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A flagellum (/ f l ə ˈ dʒ ɛ l əm /; pl.: flagella) (Latin for 'whip' or 'scourge') is a hair-like appendage that protrudes from certain plant and animal sperm cells, from fungal spores , and from a wide range of microorganisms to provide motility.
In polar flagellation, the flagella are present at one or both ends of the cell: if a single flagellum is attached at one pole, the cell is called monotrichous; if a tuft of flagella is located at one pole, the cells is lophotrichous; when flagella are present at both ends, the cell is amphitrichous.
An undulipodium or undulopodium (Greek: "swinging foot"; plural undulipodia), or a 9+2 organelle is a motile filamentous extracellular projection of eukaryotic cells.It is basically synonymous to flagella and cilia which are differing terms for similar molecular structures used on different types of cells, and usually correspond to different waveforms.
Typically, one flagellum is very short, and does not protrude from the cell, while the other is long enough to be seen with light microscopy. In some species, such as Euglena mutabilis , both flagella are "non-emergent"—entirely confined to the interior of the cell's reservoir—and consequently cannot be seen in the light microscope.
The archaellum (pl.: archaella; formerly archaeal flagellum) is a unique structure on the cell surface of many archaea that allows for swimming motility. The archaellum consists of a rigid helical filament that is attached to the cell membrane by a molecular motor .
Difference of beating pattern of flagellum and cilium. Flagella are used in prokaryotes (archaea and bacteria) as well as protists. In addition, both flagella and cilia are widely used in eukaryotic cells (plant and animal) apart from protists.
In some flagellates, flagella direct food into a cytostome or mouth, where food is ingested. Flagella role in classifying eukaryotes. Among protoctists and microscopic animals, a flagellate is an organism with one or more flagella. Some cells in other animals may be flagellate, for instance the spermatozoa of most animal phyla.
Flagellate cells however have been secondarily lost in some opisthokont groups, including most of the fungi. [ 7 ] Opisthokont characteristics include synthesis of extracellular chitin in exoskeleton, cyst/spore wall, or cell wall of filamentous growth and hyphae; the extracellular digestion of substrates with osmotrophic absorption of ...