Protists and Malaria - Vocabulary Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms from the Protista lecture notes, including protist types, feeding methods, reproduction, parasites, and malaria biology.

Protist

A diverse group of mostly unicellular eukaryotes; not a monophyletic group; includes plant-like, animal-like, and fungus-like forms.

Slime mold

Fungus-like protist; mostly unicellular but forms colonies; reproduces by spores; found in moist environments.

Amoeba

Sarcodine; moves by pseudopodia; engulfs food; forms food vacuoles for digestion.

Euglena

Flagellate; swims with a long flagellum; often photosynthetic and can be heterotrophic.

Paramecium

Ciliate; moves with cilia; has oral groove, cytostome, gullet, food vacuoles, macronucleus, and micronucleus.

Dinoflagellate

Planktonic algae; usually photosynthetic with two flagella; can cause red tides.

Diatom

Silica cell walls; photosynthetic; major component of phytoplankton.

Macroalga

Multicellular algae; seaweed.

Plankton

Tiny, drifting organisms in water; includes many protists and small animals; foundational for aquatic food chains.

Algae

Plant-like protists that perform photosynthesis; can be microscopic or macroscopic.

Seaweed

Large, brown/green/red marine algae; a type of macroalga.

Heterotroph

Organism that obtains energy by consuming other organisms.

Autotroph

Organism that captures energy from sunlight or inorganic sources to produce its own food.

Phagocytosis

Engulfing large particles by the plasma membrane to form a vesicle.

Osmotrophic nutrition

Absorbing dissolved nutrients across the plasma membrane.

Food vacuole

Vesicle in which ingested food is digested inside a protist.

Osmosis

Movement of water toward a higher solute concentration to balance solute levels.

Contractile vacuole

Membrane-bound organelle that expels excess water to regulate osmotic balance.

Pseudopodia

Temporary cytoplasmic extensions used by amoebas to move and feed.

Macronucleus

Large nucleus in Paramecium that controls everyday cellular functions.

Micronucleus

Small nucleus in Paramecium involved in genetic exchange.

Pellicle

Flexible outer layer under the plasma membrane in ciliates.

Oral groove

Feeding channel in Paramecium leading to the cytostome.

Cytostome

Cell mouth; opening through which food is ingested.

Gullet

Digestive channel leading to food vacuoles in Paramecium.

Endoplasm

Dense inner cytoplasm in ciliates.

Ectoplasm

Clear outer cytoplasm in some protists.

Binary fission

Asexual reproduction where a single cell divides into two identical cells.

Ciliates

Protists that move and feed using cilia (e.g., Paramecium).

Sarcodines

Amoeboid protists that move with pseudopodia (e.g., Amoeba).

Flagellates

Protists that move using one or more flagella (e.g., Euglena).

Parasitic protists

Protists that live on or in a host and cause disease (examples: Giardia, Cryptosporidium, Trypanosoma, Plasmodium).

Malaria

Disease caused by Plasmodium parasites; transmitted by Anopheles mosquitoes; infects liver and red blood cells.

Plasmodium

Genus of eukaryotic parasite protists that cause malaria.

Anopheles mosquito

Mosquito genus that vectors the malaria parasite.

Vector

An organism that transmits a pathogen between hosts.

Host

Organism that becomes infected with a pathogen and may develop disease.

Pathogen

Disease-causing agent (e.g., Plasmodium).

Vector-borne disease

Disease transmitted by a vector, such as a mosquito. For malaria, transmission is via Anopheles.

Primary producer

Autotrophs that form the base of the food chain by converting light energy into chemical energy.

Protozoan

Animal-like protist; typically unicellular and heterotrophic.

Drug resistance

When a pathogen evolves to survive treatments; Plasmodium has developed resistance to several antimalarial drugs.