Protists & Fungi: Bio Exam Essentials

These flashcards cover essential vocabulary and concepts related to Protists and Fungi, crucial for understanding the subject in a biological context.

Eukaryotes

Cells more complex than prokaryotes, with organelles and a cytoskeleton.

Endosymbiosis Theory

Eukaryotes are 'combination' organisms from archaeal and bacterial origins, resulting from one organism living inside another.

What did mitochondria evolve from?

Evolved from the incorporation of an alpha proteobacterium.

Plastids

Evolved from the engulfment of cyanobacterium by cells already containing mitochondria.

Evidence for endosymbiotic origin of mitochondria/plastids

Inner membranes like prokaryotes, similar cell division, circular DNA, transcribe/translate own DNA, prokaryote-like ribosomes.

Secondary endosymbiosis

When a eukaryotic cell engulfs another eukaryotic cell that has already undergone primary endosymbiosis.

Excavata

A eukaryote supergroup characterized by some members having an 'excavated' feeding groove.

Photoautotrophs, heterotrophs, mixotrophs

Types of nutrition methods used by protists.

Protozoan

Informal term for single-celled heterotrophic protists.

Diplomonads

Excavates lacking plastids, with modified mitochondria (mitosomes), often parasitic.

Parabasalids

Excavates with reduced mitochondria (hydrogenosomes), generating energy anaerobically.

Euglenozoans

Diverse excavates with a spiral/crystalline rod in their flagella.

Kinetoplastids

Known for having a single mitochondrion with a kinetoplast, includes parasites like Trypanosoma.

'SAR' Clade

A grouping that stands for Stramenopiles, Alveolates, and Rhizarians.

Stramenopiles

Protists with 'hairy' and 'smooth' flagellum.

Diatoms

Unicellular algae with a unique two-part, glass-like wall of silicon dioxide.

Brown Algae

The largest, most complex algae that are multicellular and marine.

Alveolates

Protists with membrane-bounded sacs (alveoli) under the plasma membrane.

Dinoflagellates

Alveolates with two flagella, known for causing 'red tides'.

Apicomplexans

Parasites of animals that spread as sporozoites.

Ciliates

Large group of protists that use cilia for movement and feeding.

Rhizarians

Protists with threadlike pseudopodia.

Foraminifera (forams)

Rhizarians with porous calcium carbonate shells.

Archaeplastida

Includes red algae, green algae, and land plants, named for primary endosymbiosis of a plastid.

Phycoerythrin

Accessory pigment giving red algae their color.

Green Algae

A paraphyletic group with grass-green chloroplasts, ancestors of land plants.

Unikonts

Includes animals, fungi, and some protists.

Amoebozoans

Amoebas with lobe- or tube-shaped pseudopodia.

Fungi

Heterotrophs that absorb nutrients from outside their bodies.

Mycelia

Networks of branched hyphae adapted for absorption.

Septate vs Coenocytic Hyphae

Septate have cross walls (septa), while coenocytic lack septa.

Chitin

A strong polysaccharide found in fungal cell walls.

Mycorrhizal fungi

Fungi that form mutually beneficial relationships with plant roots.

Fungal reproduction

Fungi produce vast numbers of spores, both sexually and asexually.

Plasmogamy

The union of cytoplasm from two haploid parent mycelia in sexual reproduction.

Karyogamy

Fusion of separate nuclei in the heterokaryon stage.

Mycosis

A fungal infection in animals.