TOPIC 13 UNIKONTS

Unikonts

A major branch of eukaryotic life including animals, fungi, and related protists, mostly chemoheterotrophic.

Amoebozoans

A group of protists with lobe- or tube-shaped pseudopodia, including slime molds, entamoebas, and tubulinids.

Entamoeba histolytica

An obligate parasite that causes amebic dysentery, the third-leading cause of human death due to eukaryotic parasites.

Plasmodial Slime Molds

A type of slime mold that forms a large, undivided feeding mass called a plasmodium, containing many diploid nuclei.

Cellular Slime Molds

A type of slime mold that can exist as individual cells or form multicellular aggregates when food is scarce.

Slime Molds

Organisms that were once classified as fungi due to their fruiting body production, now known to have diverged into plasmodial and cellular types.

Tubulinids

A diverse group of amoebozoans, usually found in soil, freshwater, and marine environments, predominantly predatory.

Chemoheterotrophs

Organisms that obtain carbon and energy from organic compounds; characteristic of Unikonts.

Opisthokonts

A clade within Unikonts that includes animals, fungi, and related protists.

Bikonts

A major branch of eukaryotic life characterized by organisms having two flagella or genes encoding single proteins with multiple functions.