Protists Name: Hoh, Naqib,

Adam, Nabila, Dini, Aliff

General biology of protists
• Simplest but most diverse in the eukarya domain and not considered as a plant, animal or a fungi.
• Has mitochondria and chloroplasts and they are derived from an aerobic bacterium and
cyanobacterium.
• Protists has 3 phyla:
• Protozoa (Animal-like)
• Algae (Plant-like)
• Slime moulds (Fungi-like)
• It has many different unique characteristics as they can be multicellular, colonial, filamentous,
single-celled, and most importantly they are highly complex.
• They can be autotrophic (algae), heterotrophic (protozoa), mixotrophic (Euglena)
SUPERGROUP ARCHAEPLASTIDS
Include land plants and other photosynthetic organisms such as green and red algae
that have plastids (pigment) derived from endosymbiotic cyanobacteria

Green algae Red algae

 • GREEN ALGAE
 Contain both chlorophylls a and chlorophylls b

 Inhabit a variety of environments ( ocean, snowbanks, the bark of trees)

 Majority are single celled : however filamentous and colonial forms exist

Seaweeds are multicellular green algae that resemble lettuce leaves

 Green algae are not always green: some have additional pigments that
give them an orange, red or rust colour.
• Similarities between green algae and land plants are :
i. Have chlorophylls a and b
ii. Cell wall that contains cellulose
iii. Food reserves made of starch
 CHLOROPHYTES
Chlamydomonas
• Tiny, photoautotrophic chlorophyte
• Inhabits in freshwater
• Less than 25 µm
• Has cell wall
• Has a single, large, cup-shaped
chloroplast that contains a pyrenoid
( a dense body where starch is
synthesized)
Volvox
• A well-known colonial green algae
• A hollow sphere with thousands of cells arranged
in a single layer surrounding a watery interior
• Move the colony by coordinating the movement of
their flagella

Ulva
• A multicellular chlorophyte
• Called sea lettuce because it lives in the sea and has a leafy
appearance
• Have two cells thick and can be as much as a meter long
 CHAROPHYTES
• Filamentous (end-to-end chains of cells) algae
• Have branched and unbranched filaments
• Often grow in aquatic flowering plants, attach to rocks or other
objects under water or are suspended in the water column
Spirogyra
• Unbranched charophyte
• Found in green masses on the surfaces of ponds and streams
• Has ribbonlike, spiraled chloroplasts

Chara
• Lives in freshwater lakes and ponds
• Commonly called a stonewort because it is encrusted with
calcium carbonate deposits
• Rhizoids (main strand) is a single-file strand of the long cells
which are colourless, hairlike filaments
• RED ALGAE
 Multicellular seaweed that posses red and
blue pigment accessory pigments
 Live in warm seawater
 More 7000 species of red algae are much smaller and delicate than
brown algae, but some species are exceed in length
 Can be filamentous but most have feathery, flat or ribbonlike
branches
AGAR
• Made primarily from the algae Gelidium and Gracilaria
• Used commercially to make capsules for vitamins and drugs, as a
material for making dental impressions and as a base for cosmetics
• As a solidifying agent for a bacterial culture medium
• Used in food preparation as an antidrying agent agent for baked
goods and to make jellies and desserts
• Separates proteins and nucleotides (electrophoresis) when it purified
and become gel
Carrageenan
• An emulsifying agent for the production of chocolate and cosmetics

Porphyra
• As wrappings around sushi rolls consist of processed Porphyra blades
SAR SUPERGROUP
 INTRODUCTION

• A clade in the protist phylogenetic tree that consists of

Stramenopiles, Alveolates, and Rhizaria supergroups.

S • Stramenopiles

A • Alveolates

R • Rhizaria
 STRAMENOPILES

Stramenopiles

Golden
Brown Algae Diatoms Water Molds
Brown Algae
 BROWN ALGAE

• Under the class of

Phaeophyceae.
• Has chlorophylls a and
c in their chloroplast
and has carotenoid
pigments that makes it
brown in colour.
• Carbohydrates are
stored in the form of
laminarin. Kelp forests among which contains Macrosystis and Neocystis.

• Can range from small,

simple filaments to
large multicellular
forms.
 FUCUS

• Known as the
rock-fungus or
rockweed that
grow along the
shoreline.
• Has a structure
called holdfast that
allows it to cling to Fucus vesiculosus sp.
rocks.
 LAMINARIA

• More commonly
known as kelp.
• Has a cell wall that
retains water so
that they dry out
slowly.
• It has tissue
differentiation
where they
transport nutrients
via a tissue similarly Laminaria digitate sp.
like a phloem to a
land plant.
MACROCYSTIS

• Harvested for
human food or
fertilizer.
• A source of algin
that is added to
food to give them
a smooth
consistency.
• Foods such as ice
cream, sherbet, Macrocystis pyrifera sp.
cream cheese, and
many more.
 DIATOMS
• A tiny, unicellular
stramenopile with a
silica shell that has
valves that fit together.
• Has a carotenoid
pigment that gives it
the orange-yellow
colour.
• Made up of
phytoplankton that
provides oxygen and
food for heterotrophs
in freshwater and
seawater ecosystems.
 CYCLOTELLA

• Scientific Name: Cyclotella

meneghiniana sp.
• Their chloroplasts contain a
golden brown pigment known
as fucoxanthin and also
chlorophyll a and c.
• Their cell wall is embedded
with silica that makes it
intricately beautiful.
• Their uses range from as a Cyclotella meneghiniana sp.
filtering agents, to
soundproofing materials.
 GOLDEN BROWN
ALGAE
• The colour comes
from a yellow-brown
carotenoid accessory
pigment in their
chloroplasts.
• Either unicellular or
colonial and typically
have 2 flagella with
tubular hairs.
• It may come in naked, Dinobyron sp.
or covered with
organic or silica scales,
or even enclosed in a
structure called lorica.
 OCHROMONAS

• Has 2 unequal flagella and are colonial

stramenopiles.
• They are mixotrophs which are both
autotrophic and heterotrophic.
• They ingest food through phagocytosis.
• Contributes to the marine and
freshwater phytoplankton by provided Ochromonas danica sp.
oxygen and food.
WATER MOULDS
• Scientifically known as
oomycetes and are
fungus-like eukaryotic
stramenopiles.
• Has a filamentous
body similarly like a
hyphae of a fungi and
cell walls are made up
of chitin instead of
cellulose.
• Saprophytic that feeds
on dead and decaying
matter.
• Can also act as
pathogens especially
to plants.
 PHYTOPHTHORA

• An aggressive fungus as it
prevents a plant to absorb
nutrients and water.
• Phytophthora Infestans sp.
caused the Great Irish Potato
Famine.
• It caused the deaths of many
Irish people due to the
infected potatoes.
 PLASMOPARA VITICOLA
• Causes the well-known
downy mildew of grapevines.
• The pathogen infects the
stomata
Saprolegnia
• Can be seen as a cottonlike
white masse on dead
organisms.
• They are saprotrophic as
they feed on dead decaying
organisms.
Alveolates
• Have alveoli just beneath their
plasma membrane that are
thought to lend support to the cell
surface or aid in membrane
transport
• Are single-celled organisms
Dinoflagellates
• Single-celled, photoautotrophic algae encased by protective cellulose and
silicate plates.
• Typically have two flagella: One flagellum acts as a rudder, and the other
causes the cell to spin as it moved forward.
• Have chlorophyll a and c and carotenoid accessory pigments that give them a
yellow-green to brown colour.
• 2000 species of dinoflagellates.
• A component of plankton and an important source of food for small animals in
the marine ecosystem.
• Algal bloom: A population explosion that occurs under unusually high nutrient
conditions.
Usually reproduce asexually
• Each daughter cell inherits half of the parent's cellulose plates.
During sexual reproduction
• Daughter cells act as gametes and fuse to form a diploid zygote.
• Zygote enters a resting stage until signaled to undergo meiosis.
• The product of meiosis is a single haploid cell, because the other
cells disintegrate.
Algal bloom
• A single milliliter of water can contain more than 3000 algae
• Algal bloom caused by dinoflagellates are so large that they turn the water
brown or red because of the high density of the algae.
• Colourful algal blooms, called red tides, are sometimes so extensive that
they can be seen from space
• Alexandrium Catanella can cause a harmful algal bloom (HAB) because it
secretes saxitoxin, a neurotoxin that is responsible for neurotoxic shellfish
poisoning.
• Massive fish kill can occur
• Humans that consume shellfish that have fed during A.catanella outbreak
can die from paralytic shellfish poisoning, which paralyzes the respiratory
organs.
• Some species
of
dinoflagellate
s (e.g.
Noctiluca) are
capable of
bioluminesce
nce
(producing
light)
• Zooxanthellae are dinoflagellates that form endosymbiotic
relationships with invertebrates like corals and other protozoans.
• They are endosymbioants, living within the bodies of their hosts.
• Endosymbiotic dinoflagellates lack cellulose plates and flagella.
• Corals, members of the animal kingdom, contain large numbers
of zooxanthellae, which provide their animal hosts with organic
nutrients.
• In return, the corals provide the zooxanthellae with shelter,
nutrients and protection
 CILIATES
• Unicellular protists
that move via cilia.
• Known to be
structurally complex
and specialized of all
protozoa.
• The cilia project under
a structure called
pellicle and it contains
trichocysts.
• The trichocysts are
used to discharge long,
barbed threads that
acts as a defense
mechanism and for
capturing prey.
 PARAMECIUM

• Locomote via the

rhythmic beating of
the cilia.
• Feed by sweeping
food particles down
a gullet to form
food vacuoles.
• The nutrients is
then absorbed by
the cytoplasm and
the residue is Paramecium caudatum sp.
released via the anal
pore.
 SUCTORIA
• They are well-
known ciliates to be
sessile or immobile.
• They lose their cilia
during their
developmental
stages of their lives.
• Have specialized
microtubules that is
used to capture,
paralyze, and ingest
other ciliates.
• Obtains nutrients by
sucking other
ciliate’s cytoplasms.
 STENTOR
• Known as trumpet
animalcules and are
heterotrophic
ciliates.
• The shape resembles
a vase and can reach
to a length of 2mm.
• Known to be the
most elaborate and
biggest unicellular
organisms.
• The head of the vase
is used to sweep
food particles and it Stentor roeseli sp.
is located at the
anterior part of the
cell.
 I CH T H YOPH TH IR IUS

• An ectoparasite that
causes the white
spot disease or Ich
on freshwater
fishes.
• It appears as white
nodules on the fins,
gills, and body of the
fish.
• Each of the white
nodules is enclosed Ichthyophthirius multifiliis sp.
with a cyst and it
can cause death.
Apicomplexans
• Also known as sporozoans
• About 4000 species of nonmotile, parasitic, spore-forming
protozoans.
• Have a unique organelle called an apicoplast, which is used to
penetrate a host cell.
• All apicomplexans are parasites of animals, and some can infect
multiple hosts
Plasmodium
Plasmodium is responsible for malaria.
• It is a parasitic protozoan that infects human red blood cells. The
chills and fever of malaria appear when the infected cell burst
and release toxic substances into the blood.
• In human, malaria is caused by four distinct members of the
genus Plasmodium.
• Plasmodium vivax, the cause of one type of malaria, is the most
common
Transmission cycle of Plasmodium involves the Anopheles
mosquito as an intermediate organism, or vector, that transmits
the disease between the host and other organisms.
• The life cycle of Plasmodium alternates between a sexual and
asexual phase, dependent upon whether reproduction takes
place inside the mosquito (sexual) or the human host (asexual).
Female Anopheles mosquitoes acquire protein for the
production of eggs by biting humans and other animals.
• Cyclosporiasis is an infection of the intestine caused by the
parasitic apicomplexan Cyclospora Cayetanensis. The
cyclosporine parasite is transmitted by faces-contaminated fresh
produce and water. Outbreak of cyclosporiasis in the United
States have been attributed to contaminated fresh raspberries,
basil, snow peas and mesclun lettuce.
• Toxoplasma gondii causes taxoplasmosis that is transmitted to
human from the faeces of infected cats. In pregnant women, the
parasite can infect the foetus and cause birth defects and
intellectual disability. In AIDS patients, it can affect the brain and
cause neurological problems.
Rhizarians
He… he…
  Foraminiferas and radiolarians, organisms
with fine, threadlike pseudopods. ._.

The Rhizarians  Are assigned to the SAR supergroup. -=-

consists of
 Foraminiferas and radiolarians both have a
skeleton called a test. :*
 FEMINOFORAS

 The calcium carbonate test is often

multichambered
 The pseudopods extend through the openings of
the test
The structure of  Which covers the plasma membrane
rhizarians :> RADIOLARIANS

 The glassy silicon test is internal

 Usually has a radial arrangement of spines
 The pseudopods are external to the test
  Foraminifera

Structure of
Rhizarians :))  Radiolarians
  The tests of dead for foraminiferas and
radiolarians form a layer of sendiment 700-
4,000m deep on the ocean floor. The
Function presence of these tests is used as an indicator
rhizarians for of oil deposits on land and sea.
humans?
  Their fossils date as far back as the
Precambian, and they are evidence of the
antiquity of the protists. Each geological
period has a distinct form of foraminiferan;
HiSTORY TIME! thus, foraminiferans can be used as an index
fossils to date sedimentary rock.
 UUUWUWUWWWUWUWUWuuu…
  Millions of years of foraminiferan deposits
formed the White Cliffs of Dover along the
southern coast of England
 Also, the great Egyptian pyramids are built of
Also fun facts foraminiferan limestone.
 One foraminiferan test found in the pyramids
is about the size of an old silver dollar
(about an inch an a half across!).
This species , known as Nummulites, produce a
flattened, coiled test, and its fossils have been found in
deposits worldwide, including central-eastern
Mississippi.
Picture picture!
 SUPERGROUP EXCAVATA

• Absent of mitochondria, distintive flagella,

deep (excavated) oral grooves.
• Introduced by Thomas Cavalier-Smith in 2002
as a new phylogenetic category.
• A variety of free-living and symbiotic forms,
and also includes some important parasites of
humans.
• 4 members :-Euglenids
-Parabasalids
-Diplomonads
-Kinetoplastids
 Euglenids
 Small, single-cell, freshwater organisms
 Problematic in classifying
(mixotrophic/photoautotrophic/heterot
rohic)
 Many euglenids have chloroplasts and
produce their own food through
photosynthesis
 Asexual reproduction takes place in the
form of binary fission
 Parabasalids
 Singlecelled, flagellated excavates that
endosymbionts of animal
 found in the intestines of termites and
cockroaches
 Lack of mitochondria, rely on
fermentation
 Example: Trichomonas vaginalis –
Trichomoniasis (STD)
 Diplomonad
 Has two nuclei and two flagella
 Example: Giardia lamblia – form
cysts(transmitted by contaminated
water)
 involved in the maturation of iron-sulfur
proteins
 Kinatoplastids
 single-celled,flagellated protozoans
named for their distinctive kinetoplasts
 Example: Trypanosoma brucei – cause
African Sleeping Sickness (vector: tsetse
fly
 Example: Trypanosoma cruzi –cause
Chagas diseases
 Protozoans that move by pseudopods
 Usually live in aquatic environment
 Amoeboids

• Move and ingest their food with

pseudopods
• Feed by phagocytosis (prey: algae,
bacteria or other protists)
• Digestion occurs in a food vacuole
• Freshwater amoeboids have
contractile vacuole to excrete excess
water from cytoplasm
• Example: Entamoeba histolytica and
Naegleria flowleri Amoeba proteus
Slime Molds

• An important decomposers that feed on dead plants material

• Were once classified as fungi but they lack cell walls
• Nearly 1000 species of slime molds have been identified, including
plasmodial and cellular forms.
• Plasmodium creeps along a forest floor or an agricultural field
• Animals and fungi are opisthokonts
• Includes both single- celled and multicellular protozoans

• Choanoflagellates
closely related to sponges
Has a single posterior flagellum surrounded
by a collar of slender microvilli
Food particles are taken in by phagocytosis
 Example: Codonosiga and Proterospongia
• Nucleariids
opisthokonts with a rounded or slightly flattened cell body
Has a threadlike pseudopods called filopodia
Feed on algae or cyanobacteria
Close relatives to fungi although they lack of cell walls

nucleariid
thank you!