Protozoa Flashcards
Protozoan characteristics
About 60,000 species, 50% extinct
21,000 free living Protozoa and 10,000 parasitic
Eukaryotic, single celled (unicellular)
Contain nucleus, mitochondria, ER, golgi
Organelles of locomotion
Flagella is long and cilia is small
Pseudopods (amoeba and false feet)
Undulating ridges and subpellicular microtubules
Protozoan reproduction
Majority= asexual reproduction
Binary fission, budding, conjugation
Multiple fission or schizogony
Gametogony- sexual reproduction
Protozoan nutrition
Autotrophic- own nutrients produced
Heterotrophic- holozoic, ingest via mouth
Saprozoic- absorb nutrients through cell membrane
Phylums
Sarcomastigophora, apicomplex, ciliophora and microspora
Sarcomastigophora
Flagellates distinct nucleus and asexual reproduction
Movement: most via flagella
Life cycles- can be direct or indirect
Giardia and Trichomonads and trypanosomes
Trypanosome
Parasite of all classes of vertebrates- blood, tissue and some intracellular
Majority transmitted by blood feeding invertebrates
Most do not cause disease
Trypanosome structure
Kinetoplast- head or tail, pleiomorphic and free flagellum
Cytoskeleton- microtubules, nucleus with nucleolus
Elongated body with single flagellum or round with short flagellum
Elongated cell body, single flagellum
Trypomastigote, promastigote, epimastigote
Trypomastigote
Blood stage, kinetoplast posterior
Promastigote
Mainly in insect vector, kinetoplast Anterior
Epimastigote
Some species, kinetoplast between nucleus anterior
Rounded cell body, short flagellum
Amastigote- some species, flagellum short if present at all
Apicomplexa phylum
Distinct nucleus
Movement- subpellicular tubules
Apical complex
Orders- eucoccidiida and piriplasmids
