Topic 5 Study Questions: Euglenoids Flashcards
If you want to find euglenoids, where would you look for them?
You would look at interfaces of water
Either at air-water interfaces or at sediment and water
Mainly freshwater, swamps wetlands marshes
Nearshore marine, brackish, estuary
Describe the main features of a euglenoid cell.
Many plate like plastids made up of stacked thylakoids
Light sensitive system
Contractile vacuole
Granules of paramylon (storage)
Polysaccharide or mucilage cell covering (NOT A CELL WALL)
Nucleus
Flagella
Flagellar reservoir
pyrenoids
What type of pigments and carbon storage product do they have?
Chlorophyll a and b
beta-carotene
xanthophylls
Granules of paramylon (storage) –polysaccharide
Describe the light sensitive system in euglenoids.
Light sensitive system: paraflagellar body (swelling at base of flagella) (green flavoprotein)
eyespot (in cytoplasm), adjacent to flagellar reservoir (orange-red carotenoid)
What is the function of the light sensitive system?
Allows them to swim towards optimal light
Do euglenoid cells have cell walls?
Polysaccharide or mucilage (glycoproteins) cell covering (NOT A CELL WALL)
Can be impregnated with minerals
nWhat is the pellicle made of and where is it located?
interlocking protein strips
in the cytoplasm under the cell membrane
flexible and plastic (can be rigid)
What is the name (or names) of the movement for which euglenoids are known
Euglenoid, peristaltic movement or metaboly
Cellular undulation
Flagellar Swimming
What different types of motion do euglenoids have?
They can move peristaltically or they can swim with flagella (this can be 1 or many swimming flagella)
Euglenoids sometimes look two-headed, what is this due to?
This is asexual reproduction as the cell cleaves
What are the characteristics of euglenoid resting cells?
loss of flagella
increase in paramylon granules
swelling/rounding of cells
deposition of polysaccharide mucilage
What are the characteristics of euglenoid resting cells?
loss of flagella
increase in paramylon granules
swelling/rounding of cells
deposition of polysaccharide mucilag
