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Related Concept Videos

Diversity of Protists III01:27

Diversity of Protists III

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Rhizaria are a diverse group of unicellular protists characterized by their threadlike cytoplasmic extensions known as pseudopodia. These structures aid in both locomotion and feeding, giving Rhizaria an amoeboid appearance. Their amoeboid morphology once led to taxonomic confusion, but molecular phylogenetics has clarified their evolutionary placement and emphasized their shared use of pseudopodia despite divergent lineages.This clade comprises diverse lineages such as Chlorarachniophyta,...
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Alveolates are a group of organisms recognized by the presence of alveoli, which are cytoplasmic sacs located beneath the cell membrane. While their function remains uncertain, alveoli may help regulate water balance by controlling how much water enters and leaves the cell. In dinoflagellates, these structures may serve as armor plates. There are three major types of alveolates: ciliates, which move using cilia; dinoflagellates, which use flagella for movement; and apicomplexans, which are...
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Excavata is a diverse group of protists that includes both chemoorganotrophic and phototrophic species, with some thriving in anaerobic environments. Among the key groups within Excavata are diplomonads and parabasalids, which are flagellated protists that lack mitochondria and chloroplasts. These microorganisms typically inhabit anoxic environments, such as the intestines of animals, where they exist either symbiotically or as parasites, relying on fermentation for energy production. Some...
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Protists are diverse eukaryotic microorganisms that lack the specialized tissues of plants and animals and the chitinous cell walls of fungi. Their early divergence within Eukarya resulted in structural, functional, and ecological diversity. They are classified into supergroups such as Archaeplastida, Excavata, Amoebozoa, Rhizaria, Alveolata, and Stramenopiles, determined through genetic analysis and structural similarities.Structural and Functional AdaptationsProtists have various adaptations...
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Diversity of Protists IV01:27

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Amoebozoa represent a diverse group of terrestrial and aquatic protists that utilize lobe-shaped pseudopodia for locomotion and feeding. This characteristic differentiates them from the Rhizaria, which possess threadlike pseudopodia. The primary classifications within Amoebozoa include gymnamoebas, entamoebas, and the plasmodial and cellular slime molds. Phylogenetic evidence indicates that Amoebozoa diverged from a lineage that ultimately gave rise to fungi and animals.Gymnamoebas and...
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Other Algae01:19

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The group Stramenopiles include some phototrophic microorganisms. Members of this group possess flagella covered in numerous short, hairlike extensions, a feature that inspired the group's name, derived from the Latin words for "straw" and "hair." Some of the main categories of Stramenopiles include diatoms, golden algae, and brown algae.Diatoms are unicellular, photosynthetic eukaryotes, with over 200 known genera. They play a key role in the planktonic communities of both marine and...
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Benthic protists: the under-charted majority.

Dominik Forster1, Micah Dunthorn1, Fréderic Mahé1

  • 1Department of Ecology, University of Kaiserslautern, Erwin-Schrödinger Str. 14, D-67663 Kaiserslautern, Germany.

FEMS Microbiology Ecology
|June 9, 2016
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Marine sediments may hold vast undiscovered protist diversity. Benthic protists are significantly underrepresented in current databases, suggesting the ocean floor is a major reservoir of unknown marine life.

Keywords:
benthic microbial communitiescoastal environmentshigh-throughput sequencingprotist diversity

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Area of Science:

  • Marine microbiology
  • Protistology
  • Biodiversity research

Background:

  • Marine protist diversity studies predominantly focus on planktonic environments.
  • Benthic protist communities remain under-explored, potentially harboring significant unknown diversity.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To compare protist diversity in benthic versus planktonic marine environments.
  • To assess the representation of benthic protists in public sequence databases.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of hypervariable V4 18S rRNA gene sequences from European coastal benthic and planktonic samples.
  • Operational Taxonomic Unit (OTU) delineation and diversity estimation.
  • Comparison of identified OTUs against public databases (PRR and SRA).

Main Results:

  • Benthic communities showed lower recovery of estimated diversity (33%) compared to planktonic communities (70%).
  • Minimal overlap in OTUs was observed between planktonic and benthic realms, and among different benthic sites.
  • A higher proportion of benthic protist diversity is absent from public databases than planktonic diversity.

Conclusions:

  • Marine sediments represent a vast, largely unexplored reservoir of protist diversity.
  • Benthic habitats are highly heterogeneous, contributing to unique and diverse microbial communities.
  • Current public databases significantly underestimate marine protist biodiversity, particularly in benthic environments.