Ch. 12 The Eukaryotes: Fungi, Algae, Protozoa, and Helminths Flashcards
Fungi consists of
yeasts, molds, mushrooms, and toadstools
fungi characteristics
- aerobic or facultative anaerobic
- chemoheterotrophs
- major decomposers in environment
- more tolerant of acidic and low moisture environments
mycosis
fungal disease
how are mycoses classified
how much of the body it covers or where it is located
systemic mycoses
deep in tissues; usually caused by inhaled mold spores
subcutaneous mycoses
under the skin
cutaneous mycoses
infection of hair, skin, nails
dermatophytes
organisms that cause cutaneous mycoses, such as athlete’s foot. they live on keratin.
superficial
on only the top dead layers of skin or in the hair shafts
opportunistic pathogens & examples
organisms that only cause disease in compromised individual
- Pneumocystis
- Candida
Pneumocystis
lives in the human throat
if immunocompromised, overgrows and causes a form of pneumonia
Candid
opportunistic yeast infection
thrush (oral), vaginal yeast infection
what do fungi do that cause disease?
produce toxins
economic effects of fungi
1) food production
2) drugs
3) pest control
4) food spoilage
5) plant diseases
food production fungi example
Saccharomyces (bread yeast)
drug fungi example
Penicillum (penicillin)
Taxomyces (taxol)
Algae characteristics
- may be unicellular or multicellular
- photoautotrophs
- most are not pathogenic! however, pathogenic organisms are so because they produce toxins.
dinoflagellates
symbionts in marine animals
produce toxins that do not affect the animal they are in
example of dinoflagellate disease
paralytic shellfish poisoning (produced by the algae symbiotic with shellfish)
protozoa characteristics
- unicellular eukaryotes
- mostly aerobic chemoheterotrophs
- usually live in water
protozoa disease examples
- Giardia intestinalis (N/V, diarrhea)
- Trichomonas vaginalis (STI - trich)
- Plasmodium spp (malaria)
Plasmodium spp.
- 4 species causing malaria
- part of their life cycle is inside human RBCs
- transmitted by mosquitos (vector)
Helminths
pathogenic worms; some are parasites of humans
intermediate host
harbors larval/sexually immature stage of helminths; e.g. humans