Protista The organism brining all others together???

Kingdom Protista To recap… - Protists are DIVERSE!! - Eukaryotic single celled or multi celled organisms that are not plant nor animal - Live in a wide variety of environments: snow, dirt, air, swimming pools, oceans - May be autotrophic (plant like) or heterotrophic (animal like)

Protists: The Glue that Holds us Together??? Scientists hypothesize that Protists were the first eukaryotic cells and gave rise to fungi, plants and animals. Combination of two processes created a cell with membrane bound organelles –Infolding: The plasma membrane of a prokaryote folded in on itself creating structures such as nuclear envelope, Golgi apparatus and endoplasmic reticulum –Serial endosymbiosis: prokaryote surrounded and engulfed a smaller aerobic bacterial cell, this became mitochondria Prokaryote surrounded and engulfed a smaller photosynthetic bacterial cells, this became chloroplast

I Like to Move It! Why would a protist move? How would portists move? Pseudopodia: cellular extensions, stretching and pulling Cilia: small thin projections that cluster on a cell or surround a cell, function like ores on a row boat Flagella: long hair like structure that whip around to create movement. –Protists could anywhere from one to hundreds of flagella Non motile protists rely on water currents, wind or other animals to travel towards food or for reproduction

I Like to Move It!

Lets get Together… Reproduction Asexual –Pros: copy genetic material and divide = rapid reproduction –Cons: offspring lack genetic diversity, therefore vulnerable to disease, environmental changes Alternative is conjugation, the sharing of genetic info without reproducing, the new genes are copied by the parent and given to subsequent offspring Combination –Typically parasitic protists –Alternate between asexual reproduction and sexual reproduction depending on the stage of life cycle. ie: Plasmodium, which causes malaria