BY2012 Microbiology Gallery of Amoeboid Protozoa

Amoeboid Protozoa
Unicellular protozoa move and feed by means of cytoplasmic projections termed pseudopodia Amoeboid protozoa are characterised on the form and structure of their pseudopods Common in soils and aquatic habitats Entamoeba are both pathogens of and commensals in animals Dictyostelium (a slime mould) is a amoeba with a complex life cycle involving unicellular and multicellular phases

Amoeba proteus
Pseudopodium

Granular cytoplasm

Contractile vacuole

Nucleus

Food vacuole

Pseudopodium

Diagrammatic drawing of an amoeba

Amoeba proteus

Diagrammatic drawing of an amoeba

Amoeba proteus
Food vacuoles Nucleus

Pseudopodium

Contractile vacuole

Nomarski differential interference microcopy

Amoeba proteus

Pseudopodia

Phase-contrast microscopy of an amoeba cell

Amoeba
0.1 mm

Food vacuoles Contractile vacuole

Nucleus Phase-contrast microscopy of a living amoeba cell

Amoeba proteus
Nucleus

Pseudopodia Contractile vacuole Food vacuoles

Nomarski differential interference microscopy

Amoeba proteus
Pseudopodia Nucleus

Contractile vacuole

Phase-contrast microscopy of a living amoeba cell

Freshwater amoebae

Phase-contrast microscopy of amoebae

Freshwater amoeba

Phase-contrast microscopy of an amoeba

Freshwater amoeba

Phase-contrast microscopy of an amoeba

Amoeba

Excellent video of amoeba moving (WMV format): http://www.dr-ralf-wagner.de/Amoeben_Sonnentierchen-englisch.html

Amoeba proteus

Time-lapse photographs of amoebic motility by pseudopod extension

Pfiesteria shumwayae Freshwater amoeba

Pfiesteria shumwayae amoebae engulfing a crytomonad (arrowed) [small freshwater flagellate protozoa] (A) and showing two engulfed cryptomonads (B)

Metachaos gratum Freshwater amoeba

Nomarski differential interference microcopy

Amoeba proteus
Food vacuole Pseudopodium

Pseudopodium Nucleus Stained Amoeba proteus

Amoeba proteus
Pseudopodia

Nucleus

Food vacuole

Stained Amoeba proteus

Amoeba proteus
C

Stained Amoeba proteus: A, nucleus; B, Pseudopodia; C, Food vacuole

Entamoeba histolytica Life Cycle

Entamoeba histolytica Life Cycle

a Cyst

g Excretion in faeces

b Ingestion by human of contaminated food or water

f Encystment in colon

c Excystation in small intestine

d Trophozoite e h (invasive) Amoebic colitis (amoebic) Liver abscess

Asymptomatic colonisation

Entamoeba histolytica Trophozoites

Ingested red blood cells Nucleus

Ingested red blood cells Nucleus

Following ingestion of cysts in faecally contaminated water or food, excystation occurs in the small intestine with the emergence amoeboid trophozoites which migrate to the large intestine

Entamoeba histolytica Trophozoites

Nucleus

Stained Entamoeba histolytica trophozoite with ingested red blood cells (black arrows)

Entamoeba histolytica Trophozoites

Anders Magnusson

Trophozoites with intracellular and extracellular red blood cells

Entamoeba histolytica - Cysts

Mature cyst
cb = Chromatid bodies

Nuclei

Amoeboid trophozoites undergo encystment in the colon due to dehydration of faeces immature cysts have two nuclei, mature cysts have four nuclei

Entamoeba histolytica Encystment

1 Nucleus

2 Nuclei

4 Nuclei

Entamoeba - Cysts

Nuclei of cysts are arrowed

Entamoeba histolytica Mature Cysts

Nuclei are arrowed

Entamoeba dispar A non-pathogenic Entamoeba

Nucleus

Trophozoite

Cyst with 4 nuclei

Entamoeba coli A non-pathogenic Entamoeba

Nucleus

Trophozoite

Cyst has 8 nuclei

Life Cycle of Slime Mould Amoeba Dictyostelium

Life Cycle of Slime Mould Amoeba Dictyostelium

Single amoeboid cell

Amoebae swarm together

Slug of amoeboid cells

Dictyostelium discoides is an amoeba that lives in soil and moist leaf litter and belongs to the group termed slime moulds. Dictyostelium spores released from a mature fruiting body germinate forming amoebae. The amoebae feed on bacteria and reproduce by mitosis. When food runs out, the amoebae aggregrate forming a muticellular slug. The starvation stress induces expression of cell-cell adhesion glycoproteins on their surfaces, causing the amoebae to stick together.

Life Cycle of Slime Mould Amoeba Dictyostelium

Sorus Fruiting Body Stalk

Basal disk Amoebae within the Dictyostelium slug differentiate, some forming the stalk of the fruiting body while others differentiate at the head of the stalk (sorus) into spores. The fruiting body comprises 50-80,000 cells.