1.

Protozoa
2. Algae
3. Slime Molds
4. Kelps

 over 65,000 different mostly single-celled organims

 some photosynthetic protists live symbiotically to form
lichens and corals
 some are parasites of animals and humans and cause
diseases
 grow in a wide variety of moist habitats
 most are free living
1. Chemoorganotrophic

2. terrestrial

3. planktonic forms

4. parasitic forms
1. chemoheterotrophic
◦ saprophytes – nutrients obtained from dead organic matter
through enzymatic degradation
◦ osmotrophy – absorb soluble products
◦ holozoic nutrition – solid nutrients acquired by
phagocytosis

2. photoautotrophic
◦ utilize chlorophyll a along with other pigments

3. mixotrophic
◦ use organic and inorganic carbon compounds
simultaneously
 Asexual
 Schizogony- Reproduction by multiple asexual fission,
characteristic of many sporozoans

 Plasmotomy- A form of mitosis in multinuclear protozoan

cells in which the cytoplasm divides into two or more masses,
later reproducing, in some cases by sporulation.

 sexual
 Conjugation- direct transfer genetic material. (temporary)

 Syngamy -the union of two gametes to form a zygote in

fertilization. (permanent)
 Encystation
◦ some protozoa secrete resistant covering and go into
dormant form called a cyst
◦ Functions: survival, disease transmission, nuclear
reorganization

 Excystment
◦ release from cyst form
◦ triggered by favorable environmental conditions
◦ Mastigophora- protozoa having one or more
flagella.

◦ Sarcodina- are amoebas, move by pseudopodia

with help of Cytoplasmic streaming

◦ Ciliophora includes protozoa that move by means

of cilia.

◦ Apicomplexa -Members form spores at one stage in

their life cycle. For this reason, the group is also
known as Sporozoa.
 Protozoa exist throughout aqueous environments and
soil, occupying a range of trophic levels.

 Mode of Nutrition:
 Predators
 controll bacteria populations and biomass.
 absorb food via their cell membranes, some, e.g.
amoebas
 they surround food and engulf it
 others have openings or "mouth pores" into which they
sweep food.
 All protozoa digest their food in stomach-likes
compartments called vacuoles.
 Flagellates have a small
number of long flagella,
long whiplike hairs that
beats to propel the cell.

 Some flagellates include:

a. Giardia lamblia, which
causes diarrhea
b. Trypanosoma brucei, which
causes sleeping sickness
in Africa.
c. Trichmonas vaginalis, a
sexually transmitted
disease.
1. Kinetoplastids are flagellated protozoans with a
single large mitochondrion

2. Euglenoids are flagellated protists related to

kinetoplastids that do not infect humans

3. Trypanosomes include human pathogens that are

transmitted by insects
◦ African sleeping sickness (T. brucei) is spread by tsetse flies
◦ Chagas disease (T. cruzi) is spread by bloodsucking bugs
 Euglenoid :
- Most prey on bacteria
- Some have chloroplasts that evolved from green algae and can detect
light with an eyespot
- Most live in freshwater and have contractile vacuoles that expel excess
water

 Dinoflagellates (“whirling flagellates”) are mostly marine single-celled

alveolate protists
 Some are predators or parasites; others are photosynthetic members of the
plankton or symbionts in corals.
ENTAMOEBA HISTOLYTICA
Causes: Amoebic Dysentery
ACANTHAMOEBA Sp.
Causes: 1. Granulomatous Amoebic
Encephalitis
2. Keratitis
1. Foraminiferans
2. Radiolarians
 single celled protists that
make calcium carbonate
shells from CO2
◦ Helps stabilize
atmospheric CO2 levels
and buffers pH of
seawater
◦ Shells accumulate as
chalk or limestone
 Radiolarians are heterotrophic protists with silica shells
beneath their plasma membrane
 Most are part of the marine plankton – vacuoles filled
with air keep radiolarians afloat
 Ciliates are heterotrophic single cells that move about
with the help of cilia
 Ciliates reproduce asexually by binary fission or
sexually by conjugation
 Most ciliates are free-living predators that hunt
bacteria, other protists, and one another in freshwater
habitats and the oceans
◦ Example: Paramecium
 Some ciliates are parasites of animals
◦ Balantidium coli is a parasite of humans
 Cilia are small hairs
surrounding the protist’s
body.

 The cilia beat in a

synchronized pattern to
cause movement.

 Paramecium is a typical
ciliate. It has a gullet to
swallow food, and a
contractile vacuole to get
rid of excess water.
 Apicomplexans are parasitic alveolates that
spend part of their life inside host cells
◦ Plasmodium causes malaria
◦ Toxoplasma gondii causes toxoplasmosis

 Apicomplexans infect a variety of animals

from worms to insects to humans
◦ Life cycle may involve more than one species
Diatoms
Brown Algae
Green Algae
Red Algae
 Diatoms are single-celled or
colonial protists that have a two-
part silica shell
◦ Shells accumulate on the seafloor
(diatomaceous earth)

 Most are photosynthetic, with a

brown accessory pigment
(fucoxanthin)
◦ Major components of
phytoplankton
 Brown algae are multicelled protists that live
in temperate or cool seas; ranging from
microscopic filaments to giant kelp

 Some brown algae are used commercially

◦ Thickeners (algins), food, fertilizer, herbal
supplements (bladderwrack)
 photosynthetic single-celled and multicelled protists
 have cellulose in their cell walls
 have chloroplasts
 descended from cyanobacteria
 Most green algae are chlorophytes
 Examples:
◦ Chlorella: Single celled, grown as health food
◦ Chlamydomonas: Single celled, freshwater alga
◦ Volvox: Colonial, freshwater alga
◦ Cladophora: Forms long filaments
◦ Ulva: “Sea lettuce”
◦ Codium fragilis: Branching marine alga
 mostly multicelled marine algae that live in clear, warm
waters
 Red accessory pigments (phycobilins) allow red algae
to live at greater depths than other algae.

Red Alga
Antithamnion plumula
 Water molds (oomycotes) form a mesh of filaments
made up of diploid cells with cellulose cell walls
 Water molds decompose organic matter in aquatic
habitats, are aquatic parasites (Saprolegnia), or infect
plants
 Water molds include economically and ecologically
important plant pathogens that infect a wide variety of
crop plants, as well as forest trees
◦ Phytopthora infestans ruined Irish potato crops (Late Blight)
◦ Phytopthora ramorum recently infected North American
forests
 Filaments of Saprolegnia infect fish in aquaria
 feeding on bacteria
 When conditions get harsh, they aggregate into a
multicellular slug, which migrates to a new location.
The slug then forms a fruiting body that generates
spores. The spores from the fruiting body are very
hardy.
 Plasmodial slime molds spend most of their lives as a
plasmodium
◦ A streaming multinucleated mass that feeds on microbes and
organic matter
◦ Undergoes mitosis many times without cell division
◦ Develops into spore-bearing fruiting bodies
 Giant kelp (Macrocystis) is the
largest protist
◦ Life cycle: alternation of
generation with multicellular
haploid and diploid bodies and a
dominant sporophyte generation
◦ Ecologically important kelp forests
(Pacific)

 Sargassum forms large floating mats

◦ Important Atlantic habitat
(Sargasso Sea)
Parasitic infections are a major problem worldwide.
•More than 500 million people are infected with malaria.
•More than 2 million (mostly children) die each year from
malaria.
•Entamoeba are intestinal parasites that infect 10% of the world
population.
•Trypanosoma parasites infect 16 million people in Latin
America each year.
◦ Giardia – causes diarrhea in millions of children in tropics
◦ Trichomonas vaginalis - Trichomoniasis sexually transmitted
infection in humans
 7 million cases in U.S.
 180 million worldwide
1. Trichomoniasis
- flagellate Trichomonas vaginalis
- STD
 clinical manifestations
◦ accumulation of leukocytes at site of infection
◦ yellow purulent vaginal discharge and itching
◦ in males, usually asymptomatic or burning
urination
 diagnosis
◦ observation of parasite in vaginal discharge,
semen, or urine
 treatment, prevention, and control
◦ antiparasite therapy
 caused :Giardia intestinalis
◦ forms cysts and trophozoites
◦ trophozoites attach to intestinal epithelium and interfere
with nutrient absorption
 transmission : cyst-contaminated water, numerous animal
reservoirs, asymptomatic human
- clinical manifestations:
◦ acute - severe diarrhea, epigastric pain, cramps, and anorexia
◦ chronic - intermittent diarrhea with periodic appearance and
remission of symptoms
 diagnosis
◦ observation of cysts or trophozoites in stools
 treatment, prevention, and control
◦ antiprotozoal agents
◦ avoiding contaminated water and use of slow sand filters in
processing of drinking water
 caused by Trypanosoma
◦ changes its protein coat (antigens) and evades the
immunologic response
 transmitted by tsetse flies (African trypanosomiasis) or kissing
bug (Chagas’ disease)
◦ reservoirs include domestic cattle and other animals
 Diagnosis : observation of motile parasites in blood or
antibody levels
 clinical manifestations
◦ interstitial inflammation and necrosis within lymph nodes and
small blood vessels of brain and heart, leading to lethargy
(hence name, sleeping sickness) and death within 1 to 3 years
 drug therapy is available
 Triatome bug takes blood meal, defecates in wound, and is
scratched into body
 acute disease
◦ rapid onset, trypanosome moves through bloodstream, enters
cells and becomes amastigote, replicates
◦ may be cleared or develop chronic form
◦ treatment may be effective at this stage
 chronic disease
◦ amastigotes reach heart, gastrointestinal and other cells
◦ replicate causing heart disease and other disorders due to
destruction of parasitized cells in the liver, spleen, lymph nodes,
GI, and central nervous system
 no treatment available at chronic stage
 vaccines not effective due to antigenic variation of trypanosome
 caused by Entamoeba histolytica
 Transmission : infection by ingestion of mature cysts from
fecally contaminated water, food or hands, or from fecal
exposure during sexual contact
 clinical manifestations
 asymptomatic to fulminating dysentery, exhaustive diarrhea,
appendicitis, and abscesses of liver, lungs, and brain
 diagnosis
◦ observation of trophozoites in fresh warm stools or cysts in
ordinary stools, and serological tests
 treatment, prevention, and control
◦ antiprotozoal agents
◦ avoiding contaminated water and food and hyperchlorination
or iodination of water supplies to destroy waterborne cysts
 5. Malaria
◦ caused by four species of Plasmodium
◦ transmitted by bite of an infected female mosquito
◦ life cycle of plasmodial protists
 sporozoite injected with mosquito bite
 replicates as merozoite in hepatic cells
 released, enters erythrocytes and replicates
 lyses erythrocytes – correlates with fever
 clinical manifestations
◦ periodic attacks of chills and fever
◦ anemia can result and the spleen and liver often hypertrophy
◦ can cause cerebral malaria in children and non-immune
individuals
 diagnosis
◦ demonstration of parasites within Wright- or
Giemsa-stained red blood cells and serological
tests
 treatment, prevention, and control
◦ antimalarial drugs
 resistance has been observed
 chemoprophylaxis for individuals traveling to
endemic areas
◦ prevention by use of bed netting and insecticides
to control mosquitoes
◦ new vaccine shows promise