Protists Flashcards
what is the levels of classification
Domain
kingdom
phyla
class
order
family
genus
species
Are all protists unicellular
no, for example kelp is multicellular
what are the four supergroups for protists
Excavata
SAR
archeaplastids
unikonta
What is an example of excavata
Trypanosoma, African sleeping sickness.
What is a cool feature of Trypanosoma
they have a kinetoplast which has the most complex mitochondrial DNA known (kDNA)
Life cycle of trypanosoma
1) Develops in gut of tsetse fly and moves to salivary glands
2) insects bite a mammal and infects the mammal
3) multiplies in the blood, lymph and spinal fluid
4) an uninfected insect bites the infected animal and gets infected too
Symptoms of trypanosoma
initial stage: swollen lymph’s, fever, sore joints
once in the spine: poor coordination, sleep patterns. Eventually leads to coma or death
how does trypanosoma get past the immune system
it can change it’s surface proteins which makes it hard to identify
What is an example of a protist in the SAR super group
Malaria
what causes malaria
protists in the genus plasmodium. pass via mosquito. protist invades the liver
what can most Archaeplastida do
photosynthesize
What categorizes unikonta protists
they have amoeboid like movement, bulging of membranes which allow them to crawl
what is a example of unikonta
brain eating amoeba
where are brain eating amoeba found
in thermophilic water, enter through the nose
why should we care about protists
1) they produce 50% of worlds oxygen
2) key to many food webs
3) cause many plant and animal disease
