crysophytes Flashcards
what are the golden phytoflagellates
chrysophytes
what is the range of morphologies seen in chrysophytes
they can be unicellular, colonial, naked, loricated, or scaly (tiny spines made out of glass for outer cell wall)
what are the photosynthetic pigments in chrysophytes
- xanthophyll fucoxanthin (gives the goldish green color)
- chlorophyll a and c (which they share with diatoms)
when chrysophytes photosynthesize what product do they make
they don’ make starch instead they store excess as chrysolaminaran (just like diatoms)
what environment are crysophytes found in
freshwater algae found in cold and unproductive lakes - often blooming in spring after the ice out
chrysophyte blooms tend to give what odour
fishy smell
are chrysophytes heterotrophic, phototrophic, or mixotrophic
they are mixotrophic (naked ones are involved in phagotrophy and the scaly ones are not involved in phagotrophy they absorb carbon from the environment through osmosis)
naked chryosphytes resemble what
gametes of diatoms
describe the flagella of chrysophytes
2 - biflagellate
- the flagella are of unequal length (heterokontic) - one goes straight up and the other goes 90 degrees to it
- the flagella are anchored by rhizoplast so less likely to eject flagella in stress
- the flagella are mastigonemized (have hair on them)
What features can you see on naked chrysophytes
- they are eukaryotic
- have nucleus, plastids, vacuoles, eyespot
- heterokontic flagella anchored by rhizoplast
describe the stress response of chrysophytes
they have these organelles called mucocysts which excrete a mucilage in response to environmental stressors
how do chrysophytes do phagotrophy
the naked chrysophytes eat bacteria, they have mastigonemized flagellum which they use to capture bacteria and ingest it at the base of the flagella
Describe the reproduction of chrysophytes
- they have isogamous sexual reproduction
- in general they are haploid but they have a diploid resting structure called stomatocyst in a loricated chrysophyte
What are the two types of chrysophytes
the naked ones (mixotrophs + phagotrophy)), and the scaly ones (mixotrophs with no phagotrophy - they do osmosis)
What do are the scales of the scaly chrysophytes made up of
silica