Ch 12-The Eukaryotic Microbes

Practice vocabulary flashcards covering the eukaryotic microbes including fungi, algae, protozoa, helminths, and arthropods, based on lecture notes.

Fungi

Heterotrophic organisms characterized by having chitin in their cell walls.

Protists

Microscopic eukaryotes that are not fungi, plants, or animals.

Algae

Simple autotrophs that function as photosynthesizers.

Protozoa

Unicellular heterotrophs that are not fungi.

Helminths

Multicellular parasitic worms that cause human disease and are typically transmitted like other infectious diseases.

Arthropods

Organisms such as insects and arachnids that serve as vectors of disease.

Asexual reproduction

Reproduction via mitosis where daughter cells are identical to the parent cell.

Sexual reproduction

Reproduction via meiosis where diploid cells produce haploid cells that can develop into gametes.

Haploid

A cell or organism having $1$ copy of each chromosome.

Diploid

A cell or organism having $2$ copies of each chromosome.

Polyploid

A cell or organism having many copies of each chromosome.

Mycology

The scientific study of fungi.

Yeasts

Single-celled morphological forms of fungi.

Molds

Filamentous morphological forms of fungi.

Mushrooms

The reproductive structures of certain types of fungi.

Ergosterol

A sterol found in the cell membranes of fungi.

Saprophytic

A mode of nutrition where organisms derive nutrients from dead or decaying matter.

Ascomycetes

Also known as sac fungi, this group accounts for 75\text{%} of known fungal species, including Penicillium.

Basidiomycetes

Also known as club fungi, these organisms reproduce with mushrooms and include plant parasites like smut.

Zygomycetes

Fungi that reproduce using sporangia, such as black bread mold.

Chytrids

A group of mostly aquatic fungi that include the only motile species; some live in the GI tracts of mammals.

Hyphae

Thread-like filaments that compose most multicellular molds.

Mycelium

A visible mass of thread-like hyphae.

Dimorphic fungi

Fungi that can alternate between single-celled yeast forms and multicellular hyphae forms depending on the environment.

Histoplasma capsulatum

A dimorphic fungus found in soil that can cause Histoplasmosis, a fungal pneumonia, when inhaled into the lungs.

Fungal Growth Temperature

Most fungi prefer temperatures between $20\text{ }^{\circ}\text{C}$ and $35\text{ }^{\circ}\text{C}$ but can survive much lower.

Lichens

A symbiotic association between a fungus and a photosynthesizer, such as algae or cyanobacteria.

Mycorrhizas

A beneficial symbiotic relationship between fungi and plant roots, appearing in an estimated 80\text{%} of vascular plants.

Conidia

Asexual reproductive spores found in most fungal species that are easily carried by wind or water.

Dikaryon

A fungal cell containing two nuclei resulting from the fusion of hyphae from two different mating types.

Mycosis

A disease caused by a fungus growing on or in the body.

Aflatoxins

Carcinogenic toxins produced by Aspergillus species often found in grains and peanuts.

Ergotmine

A purified drug derived from rye mold (ergot) used to treat cluster headaches and migraines.

Phytoplankton

Unicellular algae that float near the water surface and form the base of the aquatic food chain.

Red tides

Algal blooms of dinoflagellates that can produce neurotoxins harmful to humans via shellfish consumption.

Trophozoite

The vegetative or feeding form of a protozoan.

Cyst

The resting form of a protozoan that can protect the organism from environmental conditions or stomach acid.

Schizogony

A method of asexual reproduction in protozoa known as multiple fission.

Apicomplexans

Non-motile protozoan parasites, such as Plasmodium, featuring an apical complex to penetrate host cells.

Plasmodium

The causative agent of Malaria, characterized by symptoms occurring in $48$ to $72\text{-hour}$ intervals.

Diplomonads

Flagellated protists lacking mitochondria that reside in stagnant, low-oxygen water; includes Giardia lamblia.

Parabasalids

Flagellated protists lacking mitochondria that live within hosts, such as Trichomonas vaginalis.

Kinetoplastids

Protozoa with a mass of DNA made of interlocking rings in a single large mitochondrion, including Trypanosoma brucei.

Loboseans

Ameboid protozoa that engulf food particles through phagocytosis, such as Entamoeba histolytica.

Naegleria fowleri

A heterolobosean known as the "brain-eating amoeba" that enters the body from water to eat host brain tissue.

Convergent evolution

Process where unrelated organisms, like fungi and water molds, develop similar characteristics independently based on environment.

Dictyostelium discoideum

A cellular slime mold used as a model organism for developmental biology.

Definitive host

The host in which sexual reproduction of a parasite occurs.

Intermediate host

A host that houses the immature or larval stage of a parasite.

Enterobius vermicularis

The pinworm, which is the most common worm disease for children in temperate zones, transmitted via the fecal-oral route.

Ascaris lumbricoides

The most common roundworm disease where larvae migrate from the bloodstream to the lungs and are then swallowed.

Cestodes

Also known as tapeworms, these have flat bodies and a head end called a scolex for attachment.

Proglottids

Segments of a tapeworm that contain both male and female reproductive structures.

Trematodes

Also called flukes, these leaf-shaped parasites have suckers and often use a snail as an intermediate host.

Schistosomiasis

A devastating disease caused by blood flukes (Schistosomes).

Mechanical vector

An arthropod vector that simply transfers a pathogen from one surface to another.

Biological vector

An arthropod vector that is an essential part of the pathogen's life cycle.