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Clockwise from top right: Amoeba proteus, Actinophrys sol, Acanthamoeba sp., Nuclearia thermophila., Euglypha acanthophora, neutrophil ingesting bacteria. An amoeba (/ ə ˈ m iː b ə /; less commonly spelled ameba or amœba; pl.: amoebas (less commonly, amebas) or amoebae (amebae) / ə ˈ m iː b i /), [1] often called an amoeboid, is a type of cell or unicellular organism with the ability ...
Cyanobacteria have strict light requirements. Too little light can result in insufficient energy production, and in some species may cause the cells to resort to heterotrophic respiration. [21] Too much light can inhibit the cells, decrease photosynthesis efficiency and cause damage by bleaching.
These organisms perform photosynthesis through organelles called chloroplasts and are believed to have originated about 2 billion years ago. [1] Comparing the genes of chloroplast and cyanobacteria strongly suggests that chloroplasts evolved as a result of endosymbiosis with cyanobacteria that gradually lost the genes required to be free-living.
Around 100 protist species can infect humans. [153] Two papers from 2013 have proposed virotherapy , the use of viruses to treat infections caused by protozoa . [ 163 ] [ 164 ]
Photosynthesis is the main means by which plants, algae and many bacteria produce organic compounds and oxygen from carbon dioxide and water (green arrow). An autotroph is an organism that can convert abiotic sources of energy into energy stored in organic compounds , which can be used by other organisms .
In addition to oxygenic photosynthesis, many bacteria can also photosynthesize anaerobically, typically using sulfide (H 2 S) as an electron donor to produce sulfate. Inorganic sulfur (S 0), thiosulfate (S 2 O 2− 3) and ferrous iron (Fe 2+) can also be used by some organisms.
Platyophrya chlorelligera is a freshwater ciliate that harbors Chlorella that perform photosynthesis. [67] [68] Strombidium purpureum is a marine ciliate that uses endosymbiotic, purple, non-sulphur bacteria for anoxygenic photosynthesis. [69] [70] Paulinella chromatophora is a freshwater amoeboid that has a cyanobacterium endosymbiont.
As single celled phagocytic organisms, amoebas simulate the function and environment of immune cells like macrophages, and as such their interactions with bacteria and other microbes are of great importance in understanding functions of the human immune system, as well as understanding how microbiomes can originate in eukaryotic organisms.