Nutrition in Protozoa....

Introduction....
Many ways
Some synthesize their
own food
Some house algae in
cytoplasm
Some capture food by
outer sheath
Some act as parasite
Types include holophytic,
holozoic, saprozoic,
mixotrophic & parasitic
A. Holophytic nutrition
All phytoflagellates
carrying chloroplasts
synthesize their own
food via
photosynthesis
Sunlight is utilized
for food making
Self-feeding
(autotrophic
phototrophy)
CO2 & H2O act as
raw materials
Enter into complex
cycle of chemical
reactions
Produce dextrose
From dextrose
paramylum is
formed
Characteristic of
euglenoid
flagellates
B. Holozoic nutrition
Majority derives food
by ingesting other
organisms including
plant & animals
All Sarcodina with
exception of some
parasitic species
Involves development
of organelles for food
capture, ingestion,
digestion & egestion
1. Food & feeding
Consists of
microorganisms
(protozoans,
bacteria,
diatoms,
rotifers,
crustacean
larvae)
Method involved
is phagocytosis
Colorless flagellates
& those who have
lost chromatophores
capture solid food
via flagella
Ingest it either via
naked sites on body
(Bodo)
Or through oral
apparatus (Euglena)
Paranema capture
food via rod-like
trichites
In Sarcodina, solid
food captured
through
pseudopodia
Amoeboid nutrition
Rhumbler (1910)
amoebae ingest
food by 4-ways
By import
By circumfluence
By circumvallation
By invagination
a. By import
Involves taking
food into the body
upon contact with
very little
movement
Chemical attraction
between food &
Amoeba
Passive organisms
like algae taken
b. By circumfluence
Amoeba engulfs
food organism upon
contact by rolling
over it
In order to arrest
it completely
Utilized for less
active organisms
like bacteria
c. By circumvallation
Applied when Amoeba
feeds on active prey
Sends pseudopodia to
engulf the prey while it
is at some distance away
Pseudopodia surround
the prey without
touching
Later they fuse at tips
forming food vacuole &
engulfed
d. By invagination
Method of
sucking in the
food particle
upon contact
with ectoplasm
Food particle
then sinks into
endoplasm
Heliozoans
Sun animalcules &
radiolarians
Hold & pull the prey
coming within their
reach via axopodia
acting as a trap
After capture
axopodia withdraw &
prey passes into
deeper cytoplasm
Foraminiferans
Produce delicate
reticulopodia forming
a net
A granular mucoid
film lies on
reticulopods sticking
food particles coming
in contact
Food particles are
later dragged into
cytoplasm
Ciliates
Oral apparatus for food
capture present
Beating of cilia of oral
groove carries food into
buccal cavity driving it
towards cytostome lined by
ciliary bands
It then passes towards
cytopharynx which forms
food vacuoles containing food
particles into endoplasm
Suctorians
Feed on other ciliates by
their tentacles which are
knobbed at their tips
Each tentacle has a rigid
central tube surrounded
by a contractile sheath
As prey adheres to the
tips, it is paralyzed by
toxins (hypnotoxin)
Then gradually sucked into
body via central tubes
2. Digestion
Occurs within food
vacuoles, regularly in
motion within
endoplasm
Within them reaction
is first acidic & later
alkaline
Proteolytic &
carbohydrate
splitting enzymes
already known
In acidic medium,
proteins converted into
dipeptides
In alkaline medium
dipeptides converted
into amino acids
Hydrolysis of
carbohydrates occurs
this medium
Some are able to
digest fats
Enzymes furnished by
lysosomes fusing with
food vacuoles
3. Absorption
Digested food
gets diffused into
endoplasm
Assimilated in
protoplasm
Excess food may
be stored as
glycogen,
paramylum, lipids,
chromatoid bodies
4. Egestion
Undigestible
matter expelled
from hind end of
body from any
point in case of a
moving Amoeba
Ciliates have anal
opening (cytopyge
or ectoproct)
C. Pinocytosis
Cell drinking
Reported in Amoeba,
certain flagellates &
ciliates
Involves ingestion of
liquid food by
invagination through
body surface
Pinocytosis channels are
formed at some points
to enclose liquid food
Lower end of
channels pinched
off as food
vacuoles circulating
in endoplasm
Proteins & salts
induce pinocytosis
Pinocytosis helps in
absorption of high
molecular
compounds from
external medium
D. Saprozoic nutrition
Involves absorption of
food by osmosis (through
general body surface)
Osmotrophy
Food occurs in the form
of solution of dead
organic matter
Megamoeba (Polytoma,
Astasia)
Animal survives on
proteins & carbohydrates
E. Myxotrophic nutrition
Combination of
more than 1-
mode of nutrition
Many protozoa
use
photosynthesis or
osmotrophy or
phagotrophy
Euglena,
Peranema
F. Nutrition of parasites
Mechanism of food
getting same in parasitic
& non-parasitic forms
Zoomastiogophora
(Trichomonas) has a
cytostome for food
ingestion by phagotrophy
Many parasitic ciliates
(Balantidium,
Nyctotherus) do the
same
Parasitic Sarcodina
(Entamoeba) feed by
phagotrophy at
certain stage of life
cycle
Zooflagellates
inhabiting blood
(Trypanosoma) feed
by osmotrophy
Osmotrophic forms
may be either
coelozoic or histozoic
Opalina (rectum of
frog) is coelozoic &
absorbs all food via
cell surface
Young trophozoite of
Monocystis is
histozoic within sperm
morula, feeding upon
sperm substance by
osmotrophy
Parasitic saprozoic
forms may also
directly use serum of
host’s blood
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