Euglenozoa - euglenoids, kinetoplastids 

• Euglenoids - 1 of earliest organisms w/ mitochondria
  • 1/3 have chloroplasts, are autotrophic; rest are heterotrophic
  • can become heterotrophic when left in the dark
  • pellicle - flexible structure made up protein strips that change the organism’s shape
  • reproduction through mitotic cell division (nuclear envelop stays intact)
  • stigma - light-sensitive organ that helps Euglenoids move
• Kinetoplastids - has single mitochondrion in each cell
  • mini/maxi circles of DNA in each mitochondrion
  • trypanosomes - causes African sleeping sickness, East Coast fever, Chagas disease, leishmaniasis
  • able to change antigens on glycoprotein coat to fool antibodies
  • don’t infect the flies that carry them

Alveolata - dinoflagellates, apicomplexes, ciliates 

• alveoli - space below plasma membrane
• Dinoflagellates - photosynthetic, w/ 2 flagella
  • spins as it moves
  • cellulose-like material forms plates that surround the cell
  • has chlorophyll a, c, and carotenoids
  • responsible for the “red tides”
  • DNA not combined w/ histone proteins
• Apicomplexes - spore-forming parasites on animals
  • microaerophils - cells that grow best in low-oxygen, high-carbon dioxide areas
  • Plasmodium - responsible for malaria, best-known apicomplex
  • Gregarines - attaches to intestines of arthropods, annelids, mollusks
• Ciliates - has large number of cilia
  • heterotrophic, w/ cilia in rows or spirals around the cell
  • 2 nuclei - macronuclei needed for physiological functions, micronuclei needed for sexual reproduction
  • some ciliates die after a number of generations w/o sexual reproduction
  • digestive pathway - gullet >> food vacuole >> cytoproct (pore in the pellicle) >> contractile vacuoles empty waste into the outside
  • conjugation - sexual process where 2 ciliates exchange DNA through cytoplasmic bridge

Stramenopila/Rhodophyta - grouped together 

• Stramenopila - includes brown algae, diatoms, oomycetes
  • brown algae - alternation of generations; most conspicuous of seaweeds
  • diatoms - photosynthetic, w/ double silica shells; moves w/ vibrating fibrils in raphes
  • oomycetes - parasites or saprobes (feeds on dead organic matter); has 2 unequal flagella on spores
  • responsible for the potato famine in Ireland
• Rhodophyta - red algae
  • no flagella, centrioles
  • uses alternation of generations
  • related to green algae through chloroplast DNA, but not host DNA

Chlorophyta - green algae, ancestors of plants 

• Streptophyta >> land plants
• chloroplasts have a/b chlorophylls and carotenoids (like plants)
• Chlamydomonas - most primitive green algae
  • 2 flagella for mov’t
  • eyespot w/ 100,000 rhodopsin molecules used to direct mov’t
  • mostly haploid
• Chlorella - nonmotile, cannot form flagella
• Volvox - forms colonies in a hollow sphere shape

Choanoflagellida - common ancestor of all animals 

• has single flagellum surrounded by funnel collar
• feeds on bacteria through water straining
• has surface receptor involving phosphorylation just like sponges

protists that are hard to categorize - amoebas, foraminifera, slime molds 

• Amoebas - uses pseudopods for mov’t
  • cytoplasmic streaming - use of cytoplasm extensions to move, eat
  • can move in any direction
  • Actinopoda - aka radiolarians, secretes silica exoskeletons
• Foraminifera - heterotrophic marine protists, like tiny snails
  • tests - pore-studded shells
  • podia - cytoplasmic projections used for mov’t/eating
  • used as geological markers, indicators of oil
• slime molds - has at least 3 different lineages
  • plasmodium - nonwalled, multinucleate cytoplasmic mass
  • divides into lots of small mounds when lacking food
  • sporangium - produces the spores