Protists Basics
These organisms are mostly unicellular and have a nucleus and membrane-bound organelles
What are protists?
Excavata, SAR, Archaeplastida, and what group make up the four supergroups?
What is Unikonta (Amorphea)
Which reduced mitochondrial diplomonad causes intestinal infections
What is giardia intestinalis
Name 2 Life Cycles in the Protists Lesson
Plasmodial slime mold or Cellular slime mold
Chlamydomonas life cycle
Two host life cycle of Plasmodium
Protists are not a formal kingdom because they are not this type of evolutionary group
What is monophyletic
What supergroup includes red and green algae
What is Archaeplastida ?
Which kinetoplastid causes sleeping sickness and Chagas disease
What is trypanosoma
Is Chlamydomonas unicellular or multicellular?
Chlamydomonas is unicellular.
Protists that can obtain energy without oxygen
What are anaerobes
The SAR consists of these three clades
What is Stramenopiles, Alveolates, and Rhizarians
Dinoflagellates moving using how many flagella
What is two
This entamoeba species causes amebic dysentery
What is entamoeba histolytica
Why is the plasmodium considered multinucleate?
The plasmodium of a plasmodial slime mold is considered multinucleate because it consists of a single large cell containing many nuclei within a shared cytoplasm.
Protists that can photosynthesize and consume food are called this
What are mixotrophs
What is Unikonta (Amorphea)
What parabasalid infects 5-8 million people per year in North America
Tichomonas vaginalis
Explain why Plasmodium is described as having a heteroxenous life cycle
Plasmodium is described as having a heteroxenous life cycle because it requires two different hosts to complete its life cycle:
Human (intermediate host):
In humans, Plasmodium undergoes asexual reproduction in the liver and red blood cells.
Stages include: sporozoites → merozoites → trophozoites → schizonts → gametocytes.
Mosquito (definitive host):
In the female Anopheles mosquito, Plasmodium undergoes sexual reproduction.
Stages include: gametocytes → gametes → zygote → ookinete → oocyst → sporozoites.
What type of term is used to describe protist's evolutionary tree
What is unrooted
This supergroup shows evidence of secondary endosymbiosis occurring multiple times?
What is SAR
1/3 of their genome is dedicated to changing surface proteins each generation
What is 'bait-and-switch'
What is Pfiesteria shumwayae
How does Chlamydomonas maintain genetic diversity despite being primarily haploid?
Chlamydomonas maintains genetic diversity despite being primarily haploid through its sexual reproduction phase, which occurs under unfavorable environmental conditions. Here’s how:
Formation of gametes:
Haploid vegetative cells differentiate into gametes.
Gametes from different mating types fuse during sexual reproduction.
Fertilization:
Fusion of two gametes produces a diploid zygote (zygospore).
This combines genetic material from two different parents, introducing new genetic combinations.
Meiosis:
When conditions become favorable, the zygospore undergoes meiosis to produce haploid cells again.
Meiosis shuffles alleles, generating genetically diverse haploid offspring.