Questions for Section A to be answered in about 30 lines.

Phylum Protozoa
1 General characteristics
2 An outline classification up to classes, and brief account of each class with examples

Type Study: Elphidium (Free-living Sarcodine)

3 Alternation of generations
4 Reproduction
5 Life cycle

Protozoan Diseases
Entamoeba histolytica (Parasitic Sarcodine)
1 Life cycle
2 Pathogenicity
3 How is amoebiasis caused? What are its symptoms and control measures?

Leishmania donovani (Parasitic Flagellate)

4 Kala-azar

Trypanosoma gambiense (Parasitic Flagellate)

5 Life cycle

Plasmodium vivax (Parasitic Sporozoan)

6 Life cycle in man
7 Sexual cycle
8 Control measures for malaria
General Characteristics of Protozoa
Size
1 Most are microscopic, ranging in diameter from a few thousandths of a millimetre to
several millimetres. Only a few are large enough to be visible to the naked eye. For
example, amoeba can be up to 1 mm.

Mode of living
2 Most are either free-living or parasitic. Most of the free-living ones are aquatic (= live in
water).

Body organisation
3 They are unicellular (= single-celled) eukaryotes (= with a clearly separate nucleus). All
the physiological functions are carried out by the single cell.

4 They have many body shapes. They are either bilateral (= with body parts the same on
either side of the body axis), spherical or asymmetrical.

5 Some are naked (= lack a covering over plasma membrane). Others have either thick,
rigid pellicle, or a shell made of calcium salts (calcareous) or silica particles (silicious).

6 Most do not have a skeleton. Some have internal supporting elements like an internal
shell.

7 Their cell has protoplasm with one or more nuclei. This protoplasm is covered by an
outer layer ectoplasm and an inner layer endoplasm.

8 Many have a constant body form throughout their lives. Many others change their body
forms with environment or age.

Locomotion and Feeding

9 Locomotion and feeding are done by either finger-like pseudopodia, whip-like flagella
or hair-like cilia.

10 Nutrition is varied holozoic, holophytic, saprophytic, parasitic or mixotrophic.

Digestion, Respiration, Excretion and Reproduction

11 Digestion is intracellular that takes place inside the food vacuoles.

12 No specific organelles for respiration and excretion. Both occur by diffusion through the
body surface. In fresh water organisms, osmoregulation takes place through contractile
vacuoles, which acts as an excretory organelle.

13 Reproduction is both asexual and sexual. The asexual reproduction includes binary
fission, multiple fission or budding, and the sexual reproduction is by conjugation.

Other special features

14 Many show alternation of generations.
 15 Encystment (= forming resistant cysts around their bodies) takes place either for
dispersal or for surviving unfavourable conditions.

Outline Classification of Protozoa

Protozoans have been classified in many ways. The present classification was introduced by
Hymen in 1940. It is simpler and more flexible to accommodate the information gained on new
species.

It is based on the mode of locomotion and reproduction.

Phylum
Protozoa

Subphylum Subphylum
Plasmodroma Ciliophora

Class Class Class Class Class

Sarcodina Mastigophora Opalinata Sporozoa Ciliata

Subphylum Plasmodroma
1 It is also called Sarcomastigophora.

2 They are relatively more simple and primitive.

3 Locomotory organelles are either pseudopodia (as in Sarcodines), flagella (as in

Mastigophores) or completely absent (as in Sporozoans).

4 There is only a single nucleus in their cells.

5 Asexual reproduction is by binary or multiple fission.

6 Sexual reproduction is by the fusion of gametes.

Class Sarcodina
1 Most are amoeboid in shape.

2 Most are free-living, only a few are parasites.

3 Organelles of locomotion are pseudopodia of different shapes.

4 Nutrition is holozoic.

5 In many, asexual reproduction is by simple binary fission.

6 Encystment is common.

E.g. Amoeba, Entamoeba, Polystomella (Elphidium)

Class Mastigophora
1 The body is covered by a thin pellicle.

2 The body bears one or more whip-like flagella for locomotion and food-capturing.

3 Some are free-living and some are parasitic.

4 Nutrition is holozoic or holophytic.

5 In most, asexual reproduction is by longitudinal binary fission.

6 Encystment is common.

E.g. Euglena, Trypanosoma, Leishmania, Noctiluca, Proterospongia

Class Sporozoa
1 They are internal parasites.

2 They do not have any locomotory organelles for locomotion or contractile vacuoles for
digestion.

3 The body is covered by a pellicle or cuticle.

4 Asexual reproduction is by sessile method isogamy or anisogamy.

5 Spores are formed during reproduction.

6 Encystment is common.

E.g. Plasmodium, Monocystis, Gregarina

Class Opalinata
1 The body is completely and uniformly ciliated.

2 They are endoparasites inside the rectum of frogs and toads.

3 No cytostome or contractile vacuole is found.

4 Nutrition is saprozoic.

5 The body has two or more nuclei.

6 Asexual reproduction is by binary fission.

7 Sexual reproduction is by fusion of gametes.

8 Encystment takes place during breeding.

E.g. Opalina

Class Ciliata under Subphylum Ciliophora

1 They are comparatively more complex.

2 Locomotion is by cilia. In some adults, cilia modifies into tentacles.

3 Most show nuclear dimorphism a large macronucleus and a small micronucleus.

 4 The body is covered by pellicle.

5 Nutrition is holozoic.

6 Asexual reproduction is by transverse binary fission.

7 Sexual reproduction is by conjugation, autogamy, etc.

Elphidium
It is also called Polystomella (= with many small mouths). It is a Sarcodine, belonging to the
Order Foraminifera.

Classification
Phylum Protozoa
Subphylum Plasmodroma
Class Sarcodina
Order Foraminifera
Genus Elphidium

It is the most common shelled protozoan. Its shell has many minute pores.

Habitat
It lives in seas a marine organism at the sea bed.

Mode of Living
It is free-living.

Morphology
It is minute, but visible to the naked eye. Under the microscope, it appears like a miniature
snail-shell. Its body has viscous granular protoplasm. It does not have a distinct ectoplasm or a
contractile vacuole. It shows dimorphism microspheric form and megalospheric form.

S. NO. MICROSPHERIC FORM MEGALOSPHERIC FORM

1 Less in number. More in number.
2 Smaller in size. Larger in size.
3 Multinucleated, with small nuclei. Uninucleated with a single large nucleus.
4 Proloculum is small. Proloculum is large.
5 Reproduces asexually by multiple fission. Reproduces sexually by isogamy.

Shell
Its shell is hard, biconvex, oval or spherical and pale yellow.

It surrounds the protoplasm.

It is calcareous, i.e. made of calcium carbonate and other organic and inorganic substances.

It is multilocular (= many chambered). Each chamber is V shaped with the anterior convex side
and the posterior concave side. Adjacent chambers are separated by perforated septa.
Through these perforations, protoplasm flows from one chamber to the other.
The central part is the umbo, and the peripheral part is the keel.

The surface has many perforations through which protoplasm flows out in the form of thin,
long pseudopodia. All the pseudopodia form a network.

Pseudopodia
The pseudopodia of Elphidium are long, slender, branched. All of them form a network so
they are called Myxopodia or Reticulopodia. They are used for locomotion and food-capturing.

Elphidium Reproduction
It shows both the asexual and sexual reproduction.

Reproduction in which the offspring is produced from a single parent without the formation of
gametes is called Asexual Reproduction.

Reproduction in which the offspring is produced from two parents one male and the other
female with the formation of gametes is called Sexual Reproduction.

Asexual Reproduction
The asexual reproduction by multiple fission is called Schizogony. In Elphidium, the
microspheric form reproduces asexually by multiple fission. Such a microspheric form is called
Agamont or Schizont.

Events
The entire cytoplasm of the schizont flows out of the shell and forms a circular layer
around the empty shell.
The nuclei break up into chromatin bodies which reorganise to form new nuclei.
A bit of cytoplasm surrounds each nucleus and forms minute amoeboid cells called
amoebulae or agametes.
They now separate from the parent cell and secrete a shell around them to become the
megalospheric forms.
The first chamber of the shell is called Proloculum.
As they continue to grow, the protoplasm overflows and adds new chambers around
the Proloculum.
The nucleus migrates from one chamber to another and finally settles in one of the
middle chambers.
Now, the amoebulae grow into fully formed uni-nucleated, large, megalospheric adults.
In other words, the microspheric forms give rise to the megalospheric forms by asexual
reproduction.

Sexual Reproduction
The sexual reproduction by the production and fusion of gametes that are similar in size and
structure is called isogamy. In Elphidium, the megalospheric form reproduces sexually by
isogamy. Such a megalospheric form is called Gamont.
Events
The nucleus of the gamont undergoes mitotic division and produces many nuclei. At
the same time, the cytoplasm breaks into small fragments.
A piece of cytoplasm surrounds a nucleus and produces a pair of flagella. These newly
formed bodies are called gametes, zoospores or flagellulae. Because all the gametes
are similar in size and structure, they are also called isogametes.
The isogametes move into the water through the pores of the parent shell.
They freely swim about in the water with the help of paired flagella and then become
slightly elongated.
The haploid gametes from different parent cells lose flagella and fuse to form diploid
zygote.
Each zygote secretes a shell around itself.
The nucleus of the zygote divides firstly by meiosis and then by simple mitosis and
produces several haploid nuclei. Now, they become young microspheric forms.
In other words, the megalospheric forms give rise to the microspheric forms by sexual
reproduction.

Anomalies
This type of reproduction in Elphidium is different from most other animals.

Most animals Elphidium

Parent Cells Diploid Haploid
Gamete formation by Meiosis Mitosis
Zygote undergoes Mitosis Meiosis

Life Cycle
It is a regular sequence of stages an organism undergoes during its life span that ends by
returning to the initial stage.

The life cycle of Elphidium exhibits alternation of generations.

The microspheric form represents the asexual generation called schizont.

The megalospheric form represents the sexual generation called gamont.
The microspheric form reproduces asexually and develops into a megalospheric form.
The megalospheric form reproduces sexually and develops into a microspheric form.
As these two generations microspheric and megalospheric alternate with each
other, it is called alternation of generations.
The entire life cycle completes in about two years.

Elphidium: Alternation of Generations

The protozoans belonging to the genus Elphidium exhibit alternation of generations or
metagenesis, which means the asexual generation and the sexual generation of the organisms
occur alternately. In other words, the asexual microscopic form gives rise to the sexual
megalospheric form and vice versa.
Asexual Form (Agamont)
See asexual reproduction.

Sexual Form (Gamont)

See sexual reproduction.

Protozoan Diseases
Protozoan Disease
Entamoeba histolytica Amoebic Dysentery or Intestinal Amoebiasis
Leishmania donovani Kala-azar or Visceral Leishmaniasis
Trypanosoma gambiense Trypanosomiasis
Plasmodium vivax Malaria

Entamoeba histolytica
It is the most pathogenic (= disease-causing) enteric (= intestinal) amoeba in Homo sapiens.
The disease it causes is called amoebic dysentery or intestinal amoebiasis.

Life cycle
Entamoeba histolytica was discovered by Lambi in 1859 and its parasitic nature was first
described by Losch in 1875.

It is monogenetic, i.e. the entire life cycle completes only in one host Homo sapiens.

It lives in the lower portion of the small intestine and the mucus and sub-mucus layers of the
entire large intestine (colon) of Homo sapiens. In chronic cases, it enters the liver, lungs, brain
and spleen.

There are four stages in the life cycle of Entamoeba histolytica. They are:

Trophozoite Feeding and growing stage

Pre-cystic Asexual reproductive stage
Cystic Asexual reproductive stage
Metacystic Infective stage

Encystment (Transformation of trophozoites into cysts)

The trophozoites feed, grow and multiply by binary fission in the tissues, and then they
come out into the lumen of the large intestine.
Next, they become spherical and smaller, and the food vacuoles disappear. Such forms
are called Pre-cystic or Minuta forms.
At this point, their cell has a single nucleus, so they are called uninucleate pre-cystic
forms.
Soon this single nucleus divides mitotically twice and produces four daughter nuclei.
They are called tetra-nucleate pre-cystic forms.
These pre-cystic forms secrete a thin resistant cyst wall around their bodies by a process
called Encystment.
 At this stage, there appears rather large cigar-shaped chromatoid bodies in the cells,
which is a characteristic feature of the cysts of Entamoeba. These forms now enter into
the cystic stage.
All these events take only a few hours.
Note that they cannot resist too much of unfavourable environmental conditions. They
can only live for 5-6 weeks at low temperatures. Even at room temperature these cysts
survive for only about a week. If they are desiccated (= dried up by removing moisture
completely), they die at once. Moderately high temperatures like 50C kill these cysts.
They are very light with less specific gravity. The mature cysts pass out intermittently (=
now and then) with the faeces of man. When outside the human intestine, the cysts
remain viable under favourable conditions for a long time.

Transmission
These mature cysts infect a new host when he or she consumes the food or water
contaminated with these mature cysts. Food or water gets contaminated by houseflies,
cockroaches and unhygienic handling of food or water.

Excystment (Transformation of cysts into trophozoites)

This takes place only when the cysts enter the alimentary canal of man.

When man swallows these cysts along with the contaminated food, they reach his or her
intestine and here their cyst wall gets dissolved by the digestive juices, and then emerges out
the tetra-nucleate parasite. This process is called Excystment. This stage is called the Excystic
or Metacystic stage.

Metacyst
A metacyst undergoes a series of mitotic divisions, and produces eight small uninucleate
daughter amoebulae.

Some of the daughter amoebulae pass into the large intestine, invade the mucous lining and
grow into mature trophozoites, while others may remain inside the lumen of the colon and
transform back into pre-cystic or minuta form.

The life cycle of Entamoeba shows only asexual reproduction. Moreover, there is no
intermediate or secondary host. However, the Houseflies and cockroaches only act as the
transmitters or carriers by contaminating food and water.

Pathogenicity (= the ability to cause diseases)

The different diseases caused by this parasite are as follows:

Amoebic Dysentery: E. histolytica is the causative agent of the most common disease
Amoebic dysentery or Amoebiasis, from which about 60% of the human population
suffers.
Symptoms: Passing out blood and mucus along with the stools.

Chronic Intestinal Amoebiasis: Chronic Amoebic Dysentery turns into Intestinal

Amoebiasis, in which a person suffers from short periods of diarrhoea along with
periods of constipation. There may be selective dyspepsia (= indigestion) to certain
 foods such as milk and greasy edibles, with considerable flatulence (= production and
accumulation of gas), abdominal discomfort, nausea, nervousness, and general debility
(= physical weakness because of illness).
Note that people carrying the trophozoites for a long time lead a normal life and serve
as carries of the disease.

Abscesses
Sometimes the trophozoites enter the circulatory system and develop in secondary extra-
intestinal sites, such as liver, lungs, brain and spleen and cause abscesses. Such abscesses are
caused mostly in the liver.

Cutaneous Amoebiasis
This type of Amoebiasis occurs most often in the peri-anal region or on the buttocks.

Preventive measures
To control these diseases, many preventive measures should be taken both at personal and at
community level.

At personal level
Use boiled water. Avoid eating raw vegetables and fruits.
Clean the body regularly. Wash hands with soap and water before meals, after using
toilet and handling dirty and soiled articles.
Trim nails regularly.
Avoid contamination of food and food articles by protecting them from house-hold
animals like flies, rats and cockroaches.

At community level
Faeces should be disposed of under effective sanitary conditions.
Water supply is to be protected from faecal pollution.
Human excrement should be avoided as a fertilizer.
Carriers (affected people) are to be detected and isolated.

Leishmania donovani
It is named so after its discoverers Leishman and Donovon. It causes Kala-azar or Visceral
Leishmaniasis.
Animal Tissues
There are two types of organisms based on the number of cells their body possess unicellular
and multicellular.

In unicellular organisms, all functions are performed by this single cell like digestion, respiration
and reproduction.

In multicellular organisms, the body is more complex. All these functions are performed by
different groups of cells in a well-organised manner. A group of similar cells along with
intercellular substances performing a specific function is a tissue.

Tissues are of four types.

1 Epithelial tissues
a. Simple Epithelial tissue (= single-layered)
i. Squamous
ii. Cuboidal (can be ciliated or glandular unicellular or multicellular)
1. Exocrine glands
2. Endocrine glands
iii. Columnar (can be ciliated or glandular unicellular or multicellular)
b. Compound Epithelial tissue (= multi-layered)
2 Connective tissues
a. Loose Connective tissues
i. Areolar
ii. Adipose
b. Dense Connective tissues
i. Dense Regular
ii. Dense Irregular
c. Specialised Connective tissues
i. Cartilage
ii. Bones
iii. Blood
3 Muscular tissues and
4 Neural tissues.