Bio1227 Microbiology and Parasitology

Department of Biology
Institute of Arts and Sciences
Far Eastern University

LABORATORY EXERCISE NO. 4

PROTOZOOLOGY: Microscopic Morphology of Protozoans

Group No.: 1 Date Submitted: July 17, 2022

Surname/s of members:

I. Write your introduction (This includes principles, significance of the study, objectives
of the experiment and how the objectives were achieved. This part must also be in
the passive voice and past tense. Introduction must be short but packed with relevant
content).

II. Click the following link https://owlcation.com/stem/4-Main-Groups-of-Protozoa or

any preferred websites about parasitology for your readings. With the provided
URL, take notes of the four types of protozoans. Review also the different methods
of examining protozoans.

A. Describe (by tabulating), draw (or copy image) and label the four types of
protozoans

1. Flagellates

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Bio1227 Microbiology and Parasitology
Department of Biology
Institute of Arts and Sciences
Far Eastern University

FLAGELLATES

● Any protozoan that has one to many flagella at some point in its life cycle for
propulsion and feeling is referred to as Flagellate (subphylum Mastigophora).
● A thin, hard pellicle or a jelly-like coating is a common feature of flagellates. Either
asexual (often by longitudinal splitting) or sexual reproduction is possible.
● Taxonomically, the flagellates are separated into two groups: Phytomastigophorea,
which includes those that resemble plants, and Zoomastigophorea, which includes
those that resemble animals.
● Flagellates can be parasitic, free-living, colonial (Volvox), or solitary (Euglena) (the
disease-causing Trypanosoma). Intestinal or bloodstream parasitic forms reside in the
host. Other flagellates, or dinoflagellates, also exist as plankton in fresh and salt water.

2. Ciliates

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Bio1227 Microbiology and Parasitology
Department of Biology
Institute of Arts and Sciences
Far Eastern University

Ciliates

● Any member of the protozoan phylum Ciliophora, which contains about 8,000 species,
is referred to as a ciliate or ciliophoran. Ciliates are typically regarded as the most
complex and highly developed protozoans. Single-celled organisms known as ciliates
have short, hair-like organelles called cilia that are employed for movement and food
collecting at various stages of their life cycles.
● On the pellicle, the cilia are typically arranged in rows called kineties, but in some
species, they can fuse together near the cytostome to form membranelles or
undulating membranes (various sheetlike or fan-shaped groupings of cilia)
● Ciliates have a single or multiple macronuclei as well as a single or several micronuclei.
● Despite the fact that sexual exchange does occur, reproduction is typically asexual.
Transverse binary fission or budding are the two most common methods of asexual
reproduction. Autogamy and conjugation are sexual phenomena. Although
conjugation is frequently followed by binary fission, sexual reproduction does not
always lead to an instantaneous increase in population.

3. Sarcodina

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Bio1227 Microbiology and Parasitology
Department of Biology
Institute of Arts and Sciences
Far Eastern University

Sarcodina

● Sarcodine, any protozoan belonging to the Sarcodina superclass (or, occasionally, class
or subphylum). These creatures move and feed by using temporary cytoplasmic
extensions known as pseudopodia. They also feature streaming cytoplasm.
● Amoeba species and pathogenic ones are referred to as sarcodines. The cells of these
protozoans might be spherical or atypically shaped, and the pellicle is typically thin
and malleable. An outer shell or skeleton can occasionally be seen. Multiple nuclei can
be found in the cytoplasm, which is made up of ectoplasm and endoplasm. Food
vacuoles are where digestion takes place when food sticks to the skin or is caught by
pseudopodia.
● Sarcodines can reproduce asexually through division or budding as well as sexually
through syngamy. Cytoplasmic division and nuclei distribution take place in
multinucleate species. During specific developmental phases, some sarcodines have
flagella; in other species, generations with and without flagella alternate. Sarcodines
can live alone or in groups called colonies.

4. Sporozoan

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Bio1227 Microbiology and Parasitology
Department of Biology
Institute of Arts and Sciences
Far Eastern University

Sporozoan

● Any protozoan of the spore-producing phylum Apicomplexa, also known as Sporozoa.

All apicomplexans are parasitic and devoid of locomotory processes and contractile
vacuoles. Nearly all types of animals have apicomplexans living inside their cells or in
their bodily cavities.
● Pathogenic genera include Plasmodium, which causes malaria, and Isospora and
Eimeria, which cause coccidiosis. Apicomplexans consume their host's cytoplasm and
bodily fluids in addition to any dissolved food that was consumed by the host. Through
the cell membrane, simple diffusion causes respiration and excretion. Asexual and
sexual generations may alternate during the life cycle. Spore development could occur
right after sexual reproduction. Binary or multiple fission is used in asexual
reproduction.

B. In schematic diagram presents the procedure of hanging drop technique. What

is the importance of hay infusion using this technique?

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Bio1227 Microbiology and Parasitology
Department of Biology
Institute of Arts and Sciences
Far Eastern University

The hanging drop method, which includes fixing microbial suspension into a drop of fluid
above the glass slide, enables the investigation of live microorganisms. The procedure by which
the microorganisms are suspended in a drop of fluid is hence known as the hanging drop
method. It is an adaptation of the wet mount method. The wet mount approach makes it simple
to identify the form, size, and arrangement of bacteria, but also makes it challenging to
investigate their motility since the coverslip presses the microbial culture in the hollow slide's
well. To make the organism visible to us, light microscopy uses the wet mount technique, smear
preparation, heat fixing, and stain films.
The hanging drop approach is crucial for hay infusion because, like the wet mount
method, it retains cell form and structure. The petroleum jelly-sealed/wax sealed depression
also delays the drying-out process, allowing for extended observations of the organisms.
However, using the hanging drop technique with highly pathogenic organisms is likewise much
too dangerous. A hay infusion can help to enhance these microbes. Hay infusions provide a
nutritional medium for the growth of ciliates, including the fascinating microscopy specimen
Paramecium. A little amount of dried grass, or hay, is cooked in water.

C. Distinguish morphological features of euglena and paramecium

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Bio1227 Microbiology and Parasitology
Department of Biology
Institute of Arts and Sciences
Far Eastern University

Organism Microscopic Morphology Locomotion

Size: An elongated cell The flagellum helps Euglena
Euglena measuring 15–500 move. The organism moves
micrometers in length. forward as the flagellum is
whipped backward. However,
Shape: The cells are cylindrical, when the flagellum moves
with a tapered posterior and a forward, Euglena stagnates
rounded anterior. They are backward. The locomotor
most commonly discoidal, but flagellum is located at the front
they can also be ovate, lobate, of the body and pulls the
elongate, U-shaped, or organism forward.
ribbon-shaped.

Symbiosis: Euglena and

nymphs of three damselfly
species have been shown to
have an endosymbiotic
relationship. The euglenoid
only lives in the nymphs'
hindgut during the winter.
Symbiotic relationships
between green euglenoids and
insects are rare.

The movement of cilia is the

Paramecium Size: Its dimensions range primary mode of locomotion in
between 170 and up to 290 Paramecium. It has the ability to
microns or 300-350 microns move forward and backward.
Cilia move from anterior to
Shape: They are usually oblong posterior as they move forward.
or slipper-shaped, with short Similarly, cilia strongly move
hairy structures called cilia from posterior to anterior
covering them. during backward movement.
The cilia do not all move at the
Symbiosis: Some paramecium same time. Transverse row cilia
species, such as P bursaria and move at the same time. It is
P chlorelligerum, form known as synchronous rhythm,
symbiotic relationships with and it occurs when the cilia of
green algae, from which they the longitudinal row move one
not only obtain food and

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Bio1227 Microbiology and Parasitology
Department of Biology
Institute of Arts and Sciences
Far Eastern University

nutrients but also some after the other. It is known as

protection from predators such Metachronous rhythm.
as Didinium nasutum.

Endosymbioses have been

reported between green algae
and paramecium, with one
example being a bacteria
called Kappa particles that
gives paramecium the ability
to kill other paramecium
strains that lack this bacteria.

III. Generate your conclusion (The conclusion should be drawn only from the results of
your laboratory activity which will also answer your objectives.)

Single-celled organisms known as protozoans can be found in freshwater, saltwater, soil,

and other wet habitats. They come in various diameters and forms, and their lengths range from
a few micrometers to about 1mm. The majority of protozoans, however, are too small to be
seen with the human eye, measuring between 0.01 and 0.05 mm in size. Protozoans can be
divided into four groups: flagellates, ciliates, Sarcodina, and sporozoans. Flagellates are big
protozoa with complex features, whereas ciliates are protozoans with one or more long,
whip-like hairs called flagella. Both sporozoans, commonly known as intracellular protozoans,
and Sarcodina, the largest phylum of protozoans, lack flagellated movement extensions. In their
morphology, protozoans have an exterior plasma membrane that covers their cytoplasm and
nucleus. A protozoan's body shape is stable, but it can change within certain bounds, and they
can be one or several nuclei. The body's shape is often determined by the cytoplasm's
consistency, body limiting membranes, shells, and skeleton.

IV. Reference

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Bio1227 Microbiology and Parasitology
Department of Biology
Institute of Arts and Sciences
Far Eastern University

Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (n.d.). Apicomplexan. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved July 14,

2022, from https://www.britannica.com/science/apicomplexan

Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (n.d.). Ciliate. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved July 14, 2022,

from https://www.britannica.com/science/ciliate

Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (n.d.). Cnidosporidian. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved July 14,

2022, from https://www.britannica.com/science/cnidosporidian

Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (n.d.). Sarcodine. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved July 14,

2022, from https://www.britannica.com/science/sarcodine

Microbiology Note. (2021, November 16). Hanging Drop Method Principle, Procedure, Result.
Retrieved from July 14, 2022 from https://microbiologynote.com/hanging-drop-method/

Millet, L. (2012). The hanging drop. Retrieved July 14, 2022 from
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Larry-Millet/publication/233915564/figure/fig2/A
S:601591392509976@1520441973895/the-hanging-drop-a-Schematic-diagram-of-the-h
anging-drop-technique-b-Photograph-of.png

What is the purpose of a hay infusion?| Short-Facts. (2020, May 1). Retrieved July 14, 2022 from
https://short-facts.com/what-is-the-purpose-of-a-hay-infusion/

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