Exam 28: Protists

The mechanism of cell crawling in protist species is not well defined. Pseudopodia extension involves interactions between actin and myosin (the same molecules that are involved in vertebrate muscle contraction). However, prior to the study described below, no-one had provided convincing data that actin and myosin were actually involved in cell crawling in protists. Anatomical studies had identified the cytoskeletal protein actin just below the surface of the cell membrane in several species of protist, but physiological studies had failed to show a functional link between actin, myosin, and cell crawling. In a study by N. Poulsen et al. (Diatom gliding is the result of an actin-myosin motility system, Cell Motility and the Cytoskeleton 44 (1999):23-22), researchers tested whether motility in a particular species of diatom involves interactions between actin and myosin. -Refer to the study by Poulsen et al. and the figure above. Latrunculin A is a reversible toxin that disrupts the formation of actin fibres. A culture of a particular species of diatom was treated with this toxin diluted in a buffer, while another culture was treated only with the buffer (no toxin; control). The motility of cells in each culture was assessed by counting the number of cells that were moving during a defined period of time. Which of the following conclusions is reasonable based on the above figure?

Which of the following have chloroplasts (or structures since evolved from chloroplasts) thought to be derived from ancestral green algae?

Imagine that some members of an aquatic species of motile, photosynthetic protists evolve to become parasitic to fish. They gain the ability to live in the fish gut, absorbing nutrients as the fish digests food. Over time, which of the following phenotypic changes would you expect to observe in this population of protists?

________ is an important group of protists that produce ________, a substance useful to humans.

A gelatinous seaweed that grows in shallow, cold water and undergoes heteromorphic alternation of generations is most probably what type of alga?

Giardia intestinalis is an intestinal parasite of humans and other mammals that causes intestinal ailments in most people who ingest the cysts. Upon ingestion, each cyst releases two motile cells, called "trophozoites". These attach to the small intestine's lining via a ventral adhesive disk. The trophozoites anaerobically metabolise glucose from the host's intestinal contents to produce ATP. Reproduction is completely asexual, occurring by longitudinal binary fission of trophozoites, with each daughter cell receiving two haploid nuclei (n = 5). A trophozoite will often encyst as it passes into the large intestine by secreting around itself a case that is resistant to cold, heat, and dehydration. Infection usually occurs by drinking untreated water that contains cysts. -Given its mode of reproduction and internal structures, which of the following should be expected to occur in Giardia at some stage of its life cycle?

Healthy individuals of Paramecium bursaria contain photosynthetic algal endosymbionts of the genus Chlorella. When within their hosts, the algae are referred to as "zoochlorellae". In aquaria with light coming from only one side, P. bursaria gather at the well-lit side, whereas other species of Paramecium gather at the opposite side. The zoochlorellae provide their hosts with glucose and oxygen, and P. bursaria provides its zoochlorellae with protection and motility. P. bursaria can lose its zoochlorellae in two ways: (1) if kept in darkness, the algae will die; and (2) if prey items (mostly bacteria) are absent from its habitat, P. bursaria will digest its zoochlorellae. -Which process in Paramecium results in genetic recombination but no increase in population size?

Super cells characteristic of plasmodial slime moulds result when which one of the following common cellular processes does not occur?

Similar to most amoebozoans, the forams and the radiolarians also have pseudopods, as do some of the white blood cells of animals (monocytes). If one were to erect a taxon that included all organisms that have cells with pseudopods, the taxon would ________.

You are given four test tubes, each containing an unknown protist, and your task is to read the following description and match these four protists to the correct test tube. When light, especially red and blue light, is shone on the tubes, oxygen bubbles accumulate on the inside of test tubes 1 and 2. Chemical analysis of test tube 1 indicates the presence of a chemical that is toxic to fish and humans. Chemical analysis of test tube 2 indicates the presence of substantial amounts of silica. Microscopic analysis of organisms in test tubes 1, 3, and 4 reveals the presence of permanent, membrane-bounded sacs just under the plasma membrane. Microscopic analysis of organisms in test tube 3 reveals the presence of an apicoplast in each. Microscopic analysis of the contents in test tube 4 reveals the presence of one large nucleus and one small nucleus in each organism. -Test tube 4 contains ________.

Giardia intestinalis is an intestinal parasite of humans and other mammals that causes intestinal ailments in most people who ingest the cysts. Upon ingestion, each cyst releases two motile cells, called "trophozoites". These attach to the small intestine's lining via a ventral adhesive disk. The trophozoites anaerobically metabolise glucose from the host's intestinal contents to produce ATP. Reproduction is completely asexual, occurring by longitudinal binary fission of trophozoites, with each daughter cell receiving two haploid nuclei (n = 5). A trophozoite will often encyst as it passes into the large intestine by secreting around itself a case that is resistant to cold, heat, and dehydration. Infection usually occurs by drinking untreated water that contains cysts. - Giardia's mitosome can be said to be "doubly degenerate", because it is a degenerate type of ________, an organelle that is itself a degenerate form of ________.

Healthy individuals of Paramecium bursaria contain photosynthetic algal endosymbionts of the genus Chlorella. When within their hosts, the algae are referred to as "zoochlorellae". In aquaria with light coming from only one side, P. bursaria gather at the well-lit side, whereas other species of Paramecium gather at the opposite side. The zoochlorellae provide their hosts with glucose and oxygen, and P. bursaria provides its zoochlorellae with protection and motility. P. bursaria can lose its zoochlorellae in two ways: (1) if kept in darkness, the algae will die; and (2) if prey items (mostly bacteria) are absent from its habitat, P. bursaria will digest its zoochlorellae. -Theoretically, P. bursaria can obtain zoochlorellae either vertically (via the asexual reproduction of its mother cell) or horizontally (by ingesting free-living Chlorella from its habitat). Consider a P. bursaria cell containing zoochlorellae but whose habitat lacks free-living Chlorella. If this cell subsequently undergoes many generations of asexual reproduction, if all of its daughter cells contain roughly the same number of zoochlorellae as it had originally contained, and if the zoochlorellae are all haploid and identical in appearance, then which statement is accurate? The zoochlorellae ________.

Giardia intestinalis is an intestinal parasite of humans and other mammals that causes intestinal ailments in most people who ingest the cysts. Upon ingestion, each cyst releases two motile cells, called "trophozoites". These attach to the small intestine's lining via a ventral adhesive disk. The trophozoites anaerobically metabolise glucose from the host's intestinal contents to produce ATP. Reproduction is completely asexual, occurring by longitudinal binary fission of trophozoites, with each daughter cell receiving two haploid nuclei (n = 5). A trophozoite will often encyst as it passes into the large intestine by secreting around itself a case that is resistant to cold, heat, and dehydration. Infection usually occurs by drinking untreated water that contains cysts. -If the mitosomes of Giardia contain no DNA, yet are descendants of what were once free-living organisms, then where are we likely to find the genes that encode their structures, and what accounts for their current location there?

Paulinella chromatophora is one of the few cercozoans that is autotrophic, carrying out aerobic photosynthesis with its two elongated "chromatophores". The chromatophores are contained within vesicles of the host cell, and each is derived from a cyanobacterium, though not the same type of cyanobacterium that gave rise to the chloroplasts of algae and plants. p. chromatophora secretes around itself a test, or case, of plates made of silica. Which of the following is another rhizarian that would be in competition with P. chromatophora for the silica needed to make these plates, assuming limited quantities of silica in the environment?

Predict the most likely outcome of fertilising areas of ocean with iron.

Which of the following statements is accurate with regard to the observation that "income levels in countries hard hit by malaria are 33% lower than in similar countries free of the disease"?

Trypanosome infections evade attacks by host immune systems through which of the following mechanisms?

Healthy individuals of Paramecium bursaria contain photosynthetic algal endosymbionts of the genus Chlorella. When within their hosts, the algae are referred to as "zoochlorellae". In aquaria with light coming from only one side, P. bursaria gather at the well-lit side, whereas other species of Paramecium gather at the opposite side. The zoochlorellae provide their hosts with glucose and oxygen, and P. bursaria provides its zoochlorellae with protection and motility. P. bursaria can lose its zoochlorellae in two ways: (1) if kept in darkness, the algae will die; and (2) if prey items (mostly bacteria) are absent from its habitat, P. bursaria will digest its zoochlorellae. Which term most accurately describes the nutritional mode of healthy P. bursaria?

A biologist discovers an alga that is marine, multicellular, and lives at a depth reached only by blue light. This alga is most likely a type of ________.

Previously recognised similarities that seemed to connect slime moulds and fungi are now considered to be ________.