Kingdom Protista

KEY CONCEPTS

• Protists are a diverse group of

eukaryotic organisms, most of which are
microscopic
 Protista
• Not a really valid “Kingdom”
• Few real evolutionary relationships
• Contains
• Algae: “plant-like” protists
• Protozoa: “animal-like” protists
• Slime & Water molds: fungal-like
protists
 What Are Protists?
• “Dumping ground”
kingdom
• Eukaryotic
• Heterotrophic and/or
autotrophic
• Single or
multicellular
• Ancestors to
animals, plants,
fungi
 Animal-like Protists

• Called Protozoans
• Unicellular
• Require water (live in
water or moist soil)
• Most heterotrophic
• Some photosynthetic
• Most are free-living
• Some parasitic
All Life Functions in Just One Cell
• Have food and waste
VACUOLES for storing
and digesting food &
wastes
• Many are capable of
MOVEMENT Amoeba

• RESPOND to
environment – some
have light sensitive
eyespot
Paramecium
All Life Functions in Just One Cell
• Maintain
HOMEOSTASIS
• Contractile Vacuoles
pump out excess
water
• Form Protective Cysts
when food or water is
scarce (dormant stage
Contractile Vacuole
with hard covering) Pumping
 Plant-like Protists
• Photosynthetic
• No true roots, stems,
leaves

Golden Algae

Red Algae
 Plant-like Protists
• Photosynthetic
• No true roots, stems, leaves

Green Algae Golden Algae

Brown Algae Red Algae

 Fungi-like Protists

• Heterotrophic
• Decomposers
• No cell walls

Slime Molds

Water Molds
 Reproduction

• Reproduction
• Asexual: fission
• Sexual: produce gametes (specialized sex
cells)
• Advantage: new combinations of genes from
both parents (Red Queen Hypothesis)
 Reproduction
• All reproduce
ASEXUALLY
• Binary Fission -
divides into 2
identical
individuals
(clones)
• Rapid
reproductive rate
 Some Reproduce SEXUALLY
Conjugation - Opposite mating strains pair
and exchange genetic material (DNA)
 Protist
Characteristics
 General Characteristics

• Eukaryotic
• Unicellular
• Some may live in colonies
• May be Autotrophic or
Heterotrophic or Both
• Some are motile
• Appeared about 1.5 BYA
Classified into Three Main Groups
• Animal-like… heterotrophs
capable of locomotion
• Plant-like… photosynthetic
autotrophs
• Fungus-like… decomposers that
reproduce by spores
• Some protists may exhibit both
animal-like & plant-like
characteristics
 Sizes of Protists
• Unicellular organisms
• microscopic
• Colonies
• loosely connected groups of cells
• Coenocytes
• multinucleate masses of cytoplasm
• Multicellular organisms
• composed of many cells
• can get very large – some brown algae (the
giant kelps) can be 100 feet in length
 Locomotion

• Protozoa used to be classified according

to how they move.
• Ciliates use fine “hairs” called cilia
• Flagellates use longer, whip-like hairs called
flagella
• Amoebas and their relatives use pseudopodia
• Pseudopodia are also used to capture food
• Sporozoans (apicomplexans) don’t have any
ability to move (non-motile)
 Importance
• Importance of Protists
• Heterotrophic protists = protozoa
• Consume bacteria and other protists
• Components of aquatic and soil food webs
• help with recycling nutrients
• Some cause disease
• Malaria
• Dysentery
• Sleeping sickness
• others
 Interactions

• Protists are free-living or symbiotic

• Symbiotic relationships range from

mutualism to parasitism
Classification of Selected Medically
Important Protozoa
• Four groups
• Mastigophora - flagellates
• Sarcodina - amoebae
• Ciliophora - ciliates
• Apicomplexa – aka Sporozoans
• Based on:
• Method of motility
• Mode of reproduction
• Stages in the lifecycle
Animal-like
Protists

classified by
method of
movement
 Phylum Rhizopoda
(formerly Sarcodina) : ex. Amoeba
 The Amoeba uses
pseudopodia for locomotion.
The Amoeba in 3D – notice
the pseudopods
Amoeba surround and engulf their
food… the process is called
phagocytosis.
An Amoeba eating a
Paramecium.
 Ciliophora

• all use cilia for movement

• have many specialized structures,
including mouths, anal pores,
contractile vacuoles, and two nuclei
(a large macronucleus and small
micronuclei)
• Ex. – Paramecium and Stentor
Phylum Ciliophora: ex. Paramecium
3D view – taken by a
scanning
electron microscope
A closer look at the Cilia….
its means of locomotion
another Ciliate: Stentor
 Phylum
Zoomastigophora
• have flagella
• some species of
zooflagellates
have mutualistic
relationships
• ex.- Trichonympha
digests cellulose
in the guts of
termites
 Others are parasites, like
Trypanosoma, which causes
African Sleeping Sickness (coma).
Trypanosoma
 Trypanosoma

Red Blood Cells

Trypanosoma

White Blood Cell

Tsetse Fly: carries Trypanosoma to

humans; in other words, it’s a Vector
 Phylum Sporozoa
• are parasites
• have no means of locomotion
• form spores that are dispersed
by one or more hosts
• ex. Plasmodium, which causes
malaria
Portions of the Life Cycle of
Plasmodium vivax

Plasmodium vivax

It’s Red Blood Cells

Vector:
Anopheles
Mosquito
 Pathogenic Flagellates:
Trypanosomes
• Giardia lamblia
• Trichomonas vaginalis
• Genus Trypanosoma
• T. brucei causes sleeping sickness
• T. cruzi causes Chagas disease
Giardia
 Giardiasis
• Fecal-oral route of infection
• recreational water, water, fomites, contaminated
uncooked food
• Symptoms normally begin 1 to 2 weeks (average 7
days) after becoming infected.
• Symptoms
• Diarrhea
• Gas or flatulence
• Greasy stools that tend to float
• Stomach or abdominal cramps
• Upset stomach or nausea
• May lead to weight loss and dehydration
• Symptoms of giardiasis may last 2 to 6 weeks.
Trichomonas vaginalis
A flagellate - causes
Trichomoniasis, a sexually
transmitted disease
 Trichomoniasis
• STD
• Clinical Features:
• Trichomonas vaginalis infection in women is
frequently symptomatic.
• Vaginitis with a purulent discharge is the
prominent symptom, and can be accompanied by
vulvar and cervical lesions, abdominal pain, dysuria
and dyspareunia.
• The incubation period is 5 to 28 days.
• In men, the infection is frequently asymptomatic;
occasionally, urethritis, epididymitis, and
prostatitis can occur.
Tsetse fly
Kissing bug
Tsetse Fly

Trypanosomes
(flagellates) in blood
smear
 Red blood
cells

Trypanosome
with undulating
membrane

Flagellum

25 µm
 T. cruzi causes
Chagas disease

Figure 5.27
 African Sleeping Sickness

East Africa West Africa

 African Sleeping Sickness
• Bite reaction
• Parasitemia
• attacks of fever which starts 2-3 weeks
after the bite
• CNS Stage
• changes in character and personality
• Terminal stage is marked by wasting and
emaciation
• Death results from coma, intercurrent
infection or cardiac failure
 Sarcodina (Amoebas)
• Pseudopods
• Some have flagellated reproductive states
• Asexual reproduction by fission
• Two groups have an external shell
• Mostly uninucleate
• Usually encyst
• Most free-living
• Examples
• Entamoeba
• Foraminifera
• Radiolarians
Figure 5.24
Infective Amoebas: Entamoeba
• Amoebiasis caused by Entamoeba
histolytica
• Fourth most common protozoan
infection in the world
• Aka amoebic dysentery
 Entamoeba histolytica

Figure 5.28
Entameoba histolytica
Causes amoebic
dysentery (diarrhea)
and can enter the liver,
lungs, and brain
Naegleria fowleri
Foraminifera
 More support for the theory:
Living organisms that contain
endosymbiotic bacteria that carry
out vital functions in the cell.
Cyanophora paradoxa - has no
chloroplasts; contains an
endosymbiotic cyanobacterium.

Pelomyxa has no
mitochondria; this
amoeba depends on
aerobic bacterial
symbionts to carry out
respiration
Amoebae
 Ciliophora (Ciliated)
• Trophozoites mobile by cilia
• Some have cilia in tufts for feeding and
attachment
• Most develop cysts
• Both macronuclei and micronuclei
• Division by transverse fission
• Most have definite mouth and feeding
organelle
• Show relatively advanced behavior
• Majority are free-living and harmless
Ciliates
 Balantidium coli
• Only known ciliate that is pathogenic in
humans
• Affects humans, other primates, and pigs
which are the reservoir
• Lives in the large intestine and causes
diarrhea
• Trophozoites can also be detected in tissue.
• Collect a tissue specimen from the large
intestine, by sigmoidoscopy
Trophozoites

Cyst
• Most cases are asymptomatic.
• Clinical manifestations, when
present, include persistent
diarrhea, occasionally dysentery,
abdominal pain, and weight loss.
• Symptoms can be severe in
debilitated persons.
• Diagnosis is based on detection
of trophozoites in stool
specimens or in tissue collected
during endoscopy.
• Repeated stool samples
• Treatment
• Tetracycline with metronidazole
and iodoquinol as alternatives
 Apicomplexa (Sporozoa)
• Most not motile except male gametes
• Complex life cycles
• Produce sporozoites following sexual
reproduction
• Important in transmission of infections
• Most form oocysts
• Entire group is parasitic
• Examples
• Plasmodium spp.
• Toxoplasma gondii
• Cryptosporidium parvum
Mosquito - transmits the
malaria parasite Plasmodium
vivax (a sporozoan)

Malaria parasite in
red blood cells

Parasites breaking
out of red blood
cells
Malaria
Toxoplasmosis
 Toxoplasmosis
• Parasite causes eye and brain damage in a
baby, if untreated.
• Acute infection in older children and adults
may be without symptoms, cause flu like
illness or enlarged lymph glands.
• Latent parasite occurs very commonly in
people infecting approximately a third to a
half of all humans.
• Can cause active disease if a person becomes
immune compromised
 Protozoan Identification and
Cultivation
• Shape and size of cell
• Type, number, and distribution of
locomotor structures
• Presence of special organelles or cysts
• Number of nuclei
• Can be cultivated on artificial media or
in laboratory animals
 Toxoplasma gondii

• Clinical Features:
• Generally an asymptomatic or mild self-limiting
infection.
• Immunodeficient patients
• brain lesions
• pneumonitis
• Pregnant women/infant
• miscarriage; still births
• cerebral palsey; seisures
• mental retardation
• eye infections; impaired
vision
• enlarged liver and spleen
 Cryptosporidium affects
humans, dogs, and cattle

Cryptosporidium can be a problem in

municipal water supplies.
Cryptosporidium
Intracellular parasite
Causes diarrhea
Affects humans, cattle,
sheep, dogs
No effective drug
treatment for
cryptosporidiosis
Antibiotics are
contraindicated;
supportive care only
Important Protozoan Pathogens
 Phylum Foraminifera
• have a protective shell or TEST, usually
made of calcium carbonate
• layers of tests can deposit on the ocean
floor
• these can form limestone and chalk, like
the White Cliffs of Dover
• Some species of forams are good indicators
of oil deposits below
Cliffs of
Dover
Plant-like Protists

are classified by
COLOR
 Plant Like Protista
• Importance of Protists
• Autotrophic protists = algae
• Photosynthetic algae are the most important
primary producers of the world’s freshwater
and marine ecosystems
• Many are microscopic

• Some are huge: kelp

• Few cause disease

• Toxic blooms of dinoflagellates cause
• Red tides
• shellfish poisoning
Diatoms

Giant Kelp
Photosynthetic Producers

Photosynthesis
6 CO2 + 6H2O 6 C6H12O6
Respiration
 Lake Trophic Levels

Bluegill
2o
consumers Osprey
Humans
4o
consumers
Bass
Zooplankton
1o 3o
consumers consumers

Algae - producers
 Phylum Chlorophyta
• have both chlorophyll a and b (so they
are green)
• have cellulose cell walls
• store carbohydrates as starch
• have many types of sexual reproduction
• exhibit many types of organization
--Are thought to be the ancestors of
plants--
 Variations in Sexual
Reproduction
• Isogamous= both sperm and egg
are motile and equal in size
• Anisogamous= both sperm and
egg are motile and differ in size
• Oogamous= large, nonmotile egg
and small, motile sperm
Variations in Sexual
Reproduction
Phylum Chlorophyta
organization
1. Unicellular
2. Filamentous
3. Colonial
4. Bi-layer
Unicellular Green Algae
Chlamydomonas
Chlamydomonas
 Filamentous Green Algae
Spirogyra
has spiral-shaped chloroplasts
 another filamentous Green Algae
Zygnema
2 Star-shaped chloroplasts per
cells
a colonial Green Algae … Volvox
Mother colony with Daughter
colonies

Mother Colony

Daughter Colony
a bi-layered Green
Algae
Ulva (sea lettuce)
Harvesting Ulva
 Phylum
Phaeophyta

• brown algae
• multicellular
• flagellated sperm
cells
• Ex.: Fucus & Kelp
 Phylum Pheaophyta:
Brown Algae… Laminaria… Kelp

Air Bladders:
Used to take blades
to the surface for
photosynthesis
 Phylum Rhodophyta:
Red Algae
• are
multicellular
• contain red
accessory
pigments called
phycobilins
• gametes do not
have flagella
 Phylum Dinoflagellata
• formerly known as Pyrrophyta or fire
algae
• have two flagella
• some are bioluminescent, producing
light
• others produce nerve toxins
• dinoflagellates are collected and

concentrated in filter-feeding
animals
Phylum Dinoflagellata
ex. Peridinium
 Red Tide-
results from a bloom
of Peridinium
 Phylum Bacillariophyta:
Diatoms… have tests (shells) that
contain silica (SiO2), or glass
Diatom Strew
Diatoms - a SEM
picture
 Phylum Euglenophyta

• have one to three flagella at their

leading (apical) end
• have thin protein strips called
pellicles wrapped over their
membranes
• have an eyespot that permits them
to swim toward light
• can become heterotrophic when
there is no light
Euglena (arrow indicates anterior
end)
The Euglena uses a flagella as
a
means of locomotion.
 Phylum
Chrysophyta
• Are golden yellow
• Have one or two apical
flagella
 MORE
Examples of Autotrophic
Protists (Algae)
Giant Kelp Forest
Desmids – a type of
green algae
Green and golden
algae
Summer
Tabellaria - a diatom Note the sheets
of rectangular cells
Asterionella - a diatom
 Dinobryon
A chrysophyte algae – Early Spring
Gonyaulax (another
flagellate) and view of
red tide
Fungal Like
Protists
 Habitats
• Most protists live in
• ocean
• freshwater ponds
• lakes
• Streams
• Soil
• Parasitic protists live in body fluids of
hosts
 Phylum Acrasiomycota:
Cellular Slime Molds
• have both fungus and protist characteristics
• spores germinate into amoebas that feed on
bacteria
• When food is depleted, cyclic AMP is released,
causing amoebas to aggregate into one unit
• the crowd of amoebas form a slug that migrates
• cells from the slug form a stalk with a capsule,
which makes spores
• spores are released, and the cycle repeats
Acrasiomycota Life Cycle
 Phylum Acrasiomycota
colony & aggregating
fruiting body amoebas
 Phylum Myxomycota: Plasmodial
Slime Molds

• grow as a single, spreading mass or plasmodium

• feed on decaying vegetation
• when the environment becomes unfavorable (no
food or water), they form stalks and spore-
producing capsules
• haploid spores germinate into amoeboid or
flagellated cells
• these cells fuse to form a new diploid plasmodium
Myxomycota Life Cycle
Myxomycota
 Phylum Oomycota
• are parasitic and saprophytic
• form filaments, or hyphae (like fungi)
• secrete enzymes into surroundings &
absorb nutrients (like fungi)
• filaments lack septa or cross walls
resulting in many nuclei in a cell, they are
coenocytic
• have cell walls made of cellulose, not
chitin
Oomycota
Life Cycle

Examples:
• water molds
• downy mildews
• white rusts
 Leptomitus

Powdery Mildew
 Phylum Oomycota
• potatoes are native to North America
• they were introduced to Europe and
became a staple of the diet
• during the summer of 1846 most of
the potato crop was destroyed by
Phytophthora (an oomycota)
• nearly 1,000,000 Irish people died, and
1,500,000 emigrated to other
countries, like the U.S.
Ulcers on fish caused by Pfiesteria piscicida.
Pfiesteria
Note the long flagella
 Evolutionary Considerations
• One group of flagellates, the
choanoflagellates, is thought to
have given rise to the simplest
animals, the sponges.