Lect 2 Dr Ahmed El-Sabrout_211018_004628
Lect 2 Dr Ahmed El-Sabrout_211018_004628
Lect 2 Dr Ahmed El-Sabrout_211018_004628
Lecture 2
TAXONOMY is the SCIENCE of CLASSIFICATION
There are many different organisms. Scientists needed a method to name
and group these organisms.
th
Carolus Linnaeus (Swedish scientist) was an 18 century scientist who
invented a system called binomial nomenclature (two name system).
Other scientists improved the system to include more categories
(Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family..)
Carolus Linnaeus is considered
the father of taxonomy.
Linnaeus used the Genus and species names. Example: Musca domestia* is the scientific name
for house cat.
*It is important to note that the Genus name (Musca) is written with an upper case letter and the
species name (domestica) is written in all lower case letters.
Modern scientists have developed seven different categories that we can use to name an
organism. They are: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and species.
Taxonomy is the science of classifying organisms. The largest category is called the Kingdom,
and this is broken down into a smaller group called a Phylum. Class is smaller than a Phylum,
and so on.
There are five major kingdoms used to classify living organisms:
Kingdom Animalia - These are made up of animals. Examples: Ants, frogs, horses, and humans
Kingdom Plantae – These are made up of plants which are organisms that can use
photosynthesis to make their own food. Examples: Trees, grass, a cactus, and algae
Kingdom Fungi – These organisms feed on dead organisms. They also help to decay or
decompose these organisms. Examples: Mushrooms, mold, and puffballs
Kingdom Protista – These are unicellular (one-celled) organisms and have a nucleus
(prokaryotes). Some can make their own food and some cannot. Examples: Amoeba, Protists,
and Euglena.
Kingdom Monera – These are unicellular organisms that do not have a nucleus (prokaryotes).
Some can make their own food and some cannot. Examples: Eubacteria and Archaebacteria.
All living things must be able to reproduce, grow, use energy, respond to their environment, and
adapt to their environment.
There are also some non-living things that can act like a living organism.
These are not classified in the kingdoms of living organisms. Examples: Fire, virus*
Note: *Even though a virus can reproduce inside a cell, it is not considered a living organism
because it cannot reproduce on its own.
The Kingdom Protista (Protists)
The kingdom Protista contains many unicellular, colonial, and multicellular groups. Protists are
the most diverse of the four kingdoms in the domain Eukaryota. Some can make their own food,
but others do not. Some protists can move using cilia or flagella. Cilia and flagella are tail-like
structures that protisits can use to swim. We must use a microscope to look at organisms in the
kingdom protista because they are too small to see with just the eye.
Concept Outline
1) Eukaryotes probably arose by endosymbiosis. (why?)
Endosymbiosis. Mitochondria and chloroplasts are thought to have arisen by endosymbiosis from
aerobic bacteria (How?). The theory of endosymbiosis proposes that aerobic eubacteria became
mitochondria. Cyanobacteria became chloroplasts after being taken up by eukaryotic cells.
2) The kingdom Protista is by far the most diverse of any kingdom. (why?)
General Biology of the Protists:
Protista contains members exhibiting a wide range of methods of locomotion, nutrition, and
reproduction. Protists are united on the basis of a single negative characteristic: they are not
fungi, plants, or animals. In all other respects they are highly variable with no uniting features.
Many are unicellular, but there are numerous colonial and multicellular groups. Most are
microscopic, but some are as large as trees.
The Cell Surface:
Protists possess a varied array (group) of cell surfaces. Some protists, like amoebas, are
surrounded only by their plasma membranes. All other protists have a plasma membrane but
some, like algae and molds, are encased within strong cell walls. Still others, like diatoms and
forams, secrete glassy shells of silica.
Diatoms Forams
Locomotor Organelles:
Protists move principally by either flagellar rotation or pseudopodial movement. Many protists
wave one or more flagella to propel themselves through the water, while others use flagella-like
structures called cilia to create water currents for their feeding or propulsion.
Pseudopodia are the chief means of locomotion among amoeba, whose pseudopods are large,
extensions of the cell body called lobopodia. Other related protists extend thin, branching
protrusions called filopodia. Other protists extend long, thin pseudopodia called axopodia
supported by axial rods of microtubules.
Cyst Formation
Many protists with delicate surfaces are successful in quite harsh habitats. How do they manage
to survive so well? They survive in hospitable conditions by forming cysts. A cyst is a dormant
(still) form of a cell with a resistant outer covering in which cell metabolism is more or less
completely shut down. Not all cysts are so sturdy (strong).
Nutrition
Some protists are photosynthetic autotrophs and are called phototrophs. Others are heterotrophs
that obtain energy from organic molecules synthesized by other organisms. Among heterotrophic
protists, those that ingest visible particles of food are called phagotrophs, or holozoic feeders.
Those ingesting food in soluble form are called osmotrophs, or saprozoic feeders.
Phagotrophs ingest food particles into intracellular vesicles called food vacuoles or phagosomes.
Lysosomes fuse with the food vacuoles, introducing enzymes that digest the food particles within.
Reproduction
Protists typically reproduce asexually, reproducing sexually only in times of stress. Asexual
reproduction includes mitosis, but the process is often somewhat different from the mitosis that
occurs in multicellular animals. In some groups, asexual reproduction involves spore
formation, in others fission. The most common type of fission is binary, in which a cell simply
splits into nearly equal halves. When the progeny cell is considerably smaller than its parent, and
then grows to adult size, the fission is called budding. In multiple fission, or schizogony,
common among some protists, fission is preceded by several nuclear divisions, so that fission
produces several individuals almost simultaneously. Sexual reproduction also takes place in
many forms among the protists. In ciliates and some flagellates, gametic meiosis occurs just
before gamete formation, as it does in metazoans. In the sporozoans, zygotic meiosis occurs
directly after fertilization, and all the individuals that are produced are haploid until the next
zygote is formed.
3) Protists can be categorized into five groups (Five Groups of Protists)
The protists are divided into five general groups according to some of the major shared
characteristics. These are characteristics:
(1) The presence or absence and type of cilia or flagella.
(2) The presence and kinds of pigments
(3) The type of mitosis
(4) The kinds of cristae present in the mitochondria.
(5) The molecular genetics of the ribosomal “S” subunit
(6) Overall body form (amoeboid, coccoid, and so forth)
(8) The protest has any kind of shell or other body “armor,” and
(9) Modes of nutrition and movement.
The protists are divided into five general groups:
Heterotrophs with No Permanent Locomotor Apparatus. Amoebas and other sarcodines have
no permanent locomotor apparatus.
Photosynthetic Protists. The flagellates are photosynthesizers that propel themselves through
the water with flagella. Diatoms are photosynthesizers with hard shells of silica. Algae are
photosynthetic protists, some are multicellular.
Heterotrophs with Flagella. Flagellates induce themselves through the water. Single cells with
many cilia, the ciliates possess highly complex and specialized organelles.
Non-motile Spore-Formers. The sporozoans are nonmotile parasites that spread by forming spores.
Heterotrophs with Restricted Mobility. Heterotrophs with restricted (limited) mobility, molds
have cell walls made of carbohydrate.
The largest of the five general groups of protists are primarily unicellular organisms with
amoeboid forms. There are three principle phyla: the forms and the radiolarians have carbonate
shells and the rhizopods lack shells.
Trypanosomes cause many serious human diseases, the most familiar of which is
trypanosomiasis also known as African sleeping sickness. Trypanosomes cause many other
diseases including East Coast fever, leishmaniasis, and Chagas’ disease, all of great importance
in tropical areas where they afflict millions of people each year. Leishmaniasis, which is
transmitted by sand flies, afflicts about 4 million people a year.
The effects of these diseases range from extreme fatigue and lethargy in sleeping sickness to skin
sores and deep eroding lesions that can almost obliterate the face in leishmaniasis.
The trypanosomes that cause these diseases are spread by piercing-sucking insects, including
tsetse flies and assassin bugs. A serious effort is now under way to produce a vaccine for
trypanosome caused diseases. These diseases make it impossible to raise domestic cattle for meat
or milk in a large portion of Africa. For example, tsetse fly-transmitted trypanosomes have
evolved an elaborate genetic mechanism for repeatedly changing the antigenic nature of their
protective glycoprotein coat, thus dodging the antibodies their hosts produce against them. Only
a single one out of some 1000 to 2000 variable antigen genes is expressed at a time. When the
trypanosomes are ingested by a tsetse fly, they go up on a complicated cycle of development and
multiplication, first in the fly’s gut and later in its salivary glands. It is their position in the
salivary glands that allows them to move into their vertebrate host. Recombination has been
observed between different strains of trypanosomes introduced into a single fly, thus suggesting
that mating, syngamy, and meiosis occur, even though they have not been observed directly.
Although most trypanosome reproductionis asexual, this sexual cycle, reported for the first time
in 1986, affords still further possibilities for recombination in these organisms.
In the guts of the flies that spread them, trypanosomes are non-infective.
When they are ready to transfer to the skin or bloodstream of their host, trypanosomes migrate to
the salivary glands and acquire the thick coat of glycoprotein antigens that protect them from the
host’s antibodies. When they are taken up by a fly, the trypanosomes again shed their coats. The
production of vaccines against such a system is complex, but tests are underway.
Releasing sterilized flies to impede the reproduction of populations is another technique used to
try to control the fly population. Traps made of dark cloth and scented like cows, but poisoned
with insecticides, have likewise proved effective. Research is proceeding rapidly because the
presence of tsetse flies with their associated trypanosomes blocks the use of some 11 million
square kilometers of potential grazing land in Africa.
individuals. In this process of cell division, the mitosis of the micronuclei proceeds normally,
and the macronuclei divide as just described.
In Paramecium, the cells divide asexually for about 700 generations and then die if sexual
reproduction has not occurred. Like most ciliates, Paramecium has a sexual process called
conjugation, in which two individual cells
remain attached to each other for up to several
hours.
Only cells of two different genetically determined
mating types, odd and even, are able to conjugate.
Meiosis in the micronuclei of each individual
produces several haploid micronuclei, and the
two partners exchange a pair of these micronuclei
through a cytoplasmic bridge that appears
between the two partners. In each conjugating
individual, the new micronucleus fuses with one
of the micronuclei already present in that
individual, resulting in the production of a new
diploid micronucleus in each individual. After
conjugation, the macronucleus in each cell
disintegrates, while the new diploid micronucleus undergoes mitosis, thus giving rise to two new
identical diploid micronuclei within each individual. One of these micronuclei becomes the
precursor of the future micronuclei of that cell, while the other micronucleus undergoes multiple
rounds of DNA replication, becoming the new macronucleus. This kind of complete segregation
of the genetic material is a unique feature of the ciliates and makes them ideal organisms for the
study of certain aspects of genetics. Progeny from a sexual division in Paramecium must go
through about 50 asexual divisions before they are able to conjugate.
Notes:
The zoomastigotes are a highly diverse group of flagellated unicellular heterotrophs, containing
among their members the ancestors of animals as well as the very primitive Giardia. Ciliates
possess characteristic cilia, and have two types of nuclei. The macronuclei contain multiple
copies of certain genes, while the micronuclei contain multigene chromosomes.
Plasmodium enters a sexual phase when some merozoites develop into gametocytes, cells
capable of producing gametes. There are two types of gametocytes: male and female.
Gametocytes are incapable of producing gametes within their human hosts and do so only when
they are extracted from an infected human by a mosquito.
Within the gut of the mosquito, the male and female gametocytes form sperm and eggs,
respectively. Zygotes develop within the mosquito’s intestinal walls and ultimately differentiate
into oocysts. Within the oocysts, repeated mitotic divisions take place, producing large numbers
of sporozoites. These sporozoites migrate to the salivary glands of the mosquito, and from there
they are injected by the mosquito into the bloodstream of a human, thus starting the life cycle of
the parasite again.
Malaria. Malaria, caused by infections by the sporozoan Plasmodium, is one of the most serious
diseases in the world. According to the World Health Organization, about 500 million people are
affected by it at any one time, and approximately 2 million of them, mostly children, die each
year. The symptoms, familiar throughout the tropics, include severe chills, fever, and sweating,
an enlarged and tender spleen, confusion, and great thirst. Ultimately, a victim of malaria may
die of anemia, kidney failure, or brain damage. The disease may be brought under control by the
person’s immune system or by drugs. As discussed in chapter 21, some individuals are
genetically resistant to malaria. Other persons develop immunity to it. Efforts to eradicate
malaria have focused on (1) the elimination of the mosquito vectors; (2) the development of
drugs to poison the parasites once they have entered the human body; and (3) the development of
vaccines.
Notes:
The best known of the sporozoans is the malarial parasite Plasmodium. Like other sporozoans,
Plasmodium has a complex life cycle involving sexual and asexual phases and alternation
between different hosts, in this case mosquitoes and humans. Malaria kills about 2 million people
each year.
Kinds of Protists