Kingdom Protista

General Characteristics
Yes or No.

1. All protists are microscopic. No. Most of …

2. Only a few of them are free living. No. Most of ….

3. It is only composed of single-celled organisms No. some are multi…

Yes
4. Most protists are aquatic ( marine and fresh ).

5. Some can survive on rocks, damp places, soil and leaf litter Yes

6. There are parasitic protists in plants and animals. Yes

 7. All protists are heterotrophic. No. some are photosynthetic

8. Some of them can switch their mode of nutrition

Yes.
be photosynthetic at certain times and be heterotrophic
at other time
9. They can reproduce asexually and sexually Yes.

10. All protists are non-motile. No. Some can move using flagella or cilia

11. Protists exhibit symbiotic relationship. Yes. Mutualistic/ Parasitic

12. They are eukaryotic with cell organelles. Yes.

What are the major groups of protists ?

1. Animal- like protist Protozoa / protozoons

2. Plant-like protist Alga / algae

3. Fungi-like protist Slime molds and water molds

 1. Protozoa ( animal –like protists )
a. Phylum Rhizopoda

- are found in soil, fresh and marine

- unicellular

- reproduce asexually only

- pseudopods ( false feet) are used for locomotion and ingestion of food

Entamoeba histolytica causes amebic dysentery in human

Examples Acanthamoeba causes opportunistic infections such as eye infections
in contact lens users.
 Foraminiferan

- almost all are marine organisms

Ex. Rotaliella

- secrete chalky, many- chambered shells with pores

- cytoplasmic projections are used to entangle prey
-when they die, they form a grey mud that is gradually transformed
into chalk layer

Ex. White Cliffs of Dover, London

b. Phylum Zoomastigina ( flagellates )

- have flagella

- found in fresh, marine, and body

fluids of animals

- ingesting or absorbing

- asexual

- free –living or symbionts

Ex. Trypanosoma gambiense – African sleeping sickness

Trichonympha – present in the intestine of termites
( digest cellullose using their cellulase enzyme )
c. Phylum Ciliophora ( Ciliates )

Ex. Paramecium
- cilia - most feed on bacteria - fresh water
-they differ from other protists in having two types of nuclei
a. macronuclei control cell metabolism and growth

b. micronuclei take part in conjugation

Ex. Stentor

- non motile
- found in shallow part of the coastal seas
d. Phylum Apicomplexa ( Sporozoa )

- sporozoa are a large group of parasitic

parasitic protozoa

- no organelle for locomotion

Ex. Plasmodium

- causes Malaria

- the vector of this disease is the female Anopheles mosquito

Assign. Discuss how Malaria develops in mosquito and human hosts.

½ crosswise paper
3. Fungus-like protist

Why fungus-like protists?

- superficially resemble fungi in that they are nonphotosynthetic

and their body form is often threadlike hypae

- have centrioles and flagellated cells, which fungi lack

- cell wall is composed of cellulose; fungal cell wall is chitin
a. Phylum Myxomycota ( Plasmodial Slime Molds )

Ex. Plasmodium of Physarum

plasmodium – is a vegetative stage of the slime molds

- contains many diploid nuclei ( multinucleate )
- logs, and leaf litter

- feed on bacteria, yeast, spores, decaying organic matter, and ameba

- reproduce asexually and sexually ( gametes are involved )
 When conditions are not favorable and food is insufficient

they produce SPORANGIA, reproductive structures

In sporangia, haploid nuclei are produced, which later surrounded by a cell wall
to form SPORES which are resistant to adverse envi.

when conditions are favorable, spores in the sporangia break out and
release their flagellated cells

the flagellated cells ( act as gametes) fuse together to form diploid cells

diploid cells divide by mitosis ( cell division )

hundreds of diploid cells form another plasmodium

b. Phylum Oomycota ( water molds )

- they form a MYCELIUM ( a mass of threadlike structure and a vegetative body)

- a mycelium is composed of threadlike HYPHAE ( cells )

- cell wall is composed of cellulose and/or chitin

-reproduce asexually and sexually; products of the fusion of male and female
gametes are called OOSPORE
 In 1840s, water molds affected almost all potato plantations in Ireland.

Late blight potato disease ------------ starvation ------------- death ( .5 – 1 mil. )

A mass migration out of Ireland to USA