Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Protists reproduce asexually or sexually. If the protists reproduce asexually, they do so through binary fission, multiple fission, budding, and fragmentation. If the protists reproduce sexually, they do so through a syngamy process where there is a fusion of the gametes. If this occurs in an individual it is recognized as autogamy.
Some protists are significant parasites of animals (e.g.; five species of the parasitic genus Plasmodium cause malaria in humans and many others cause similar diseases in other vertebrates), plants [158] [159] (the oomycete Phytophthora infestans causes late blight in potatoes) [160] or even of other protists. [161] [162]
For example, the human body louse transmits the bacterium Rickettsia prowazekii which causes epidemic typhus. Although invertebrate-transmitted diseases pose a particular threat on the continents of Africa, Asia and South America, there is one way of controlling invertebrate-borne diseases, which is by controlling the invertebrate vector.
The term continues to be used in a loose way to describe single-celled protists (that is, eukaryotes that are not animals, plants, or fungi) that feed by heterotrophy. [9] Traditional textbook examples of protozoa are Amoeba , Paramecium , Euglena and Trypanosoma .
Main article: Human parasite Endoparasites Protozoan organisms Common name of organism or disease Latin name (sorted) Body parts affected Diagnostic specimen Prevalence Source/Transmission (Reservoir/Vector) Granulomatous amoebic encephalitis and Acanthamoeba keratitis (eye infection) Acanthamoeba spp. eye, brain, skin culture worldwide contact lenses cleaned with contaminated tap water ...
Kinetoplastida (or Kinetoplastea, as a class) is a group of flagellated protists belonging to the phylum Euglenozoa, [3] [4] and characterised by the presence of a distinctive organelle called the kinetoplast (hence the name), a granule containing a large mass of DNA.
As a protist, Plasmodium is a eukaryote of the phylum Apicomplexa. Unusual characteristics of this organism in comparison to general eukaryotes include the rhoptry, micronemes, and polar rings near the apical end. Plasmodium is known best for the infection it causes in humans, namely, malaria.
Protistology is a scientific discipline devoted to the study of protists, a highly diverse group of eukaryotic organisms. All eukaryotes apart from animals, plants and fungi are considered protists. [1]