Protists: cells and organisms.

Although the kingdom Protists is no more recognised as a real systematic category, the term, written with a small “p” ,   may be still useful to indicate in general eukaryotic unicellular organisms to which this post is dedicated.

  Protists have only one cell and this unique cell not only performs all vital functions typical of eukaryotic cells but also realize and recognize the external stimuli coming from the environment and from every other organism they may contact.  Then, the cell has to work out a suited answer, to get the required energy and finally to reproduce. ……to say the least!!!

As an example I will, thereafter, illustrate what Paramecium, the most famous ciliate protist, often reported even on primary school books, is able to do.

1)   Paramecium is able to move thank to its cilia. Cilia are slender protuberances that project from the cell body. These organelles “invented” by Ciliates, to which Paramecium belongs, are anyway present in many cells of our body with the same structure but used for different purposes. Cilia beat the water like little flexible paddles. Their beating is variable in frequency and direction. Thus the ciliate is able to vary the speed of its motion and to reverse its motion once an obstacle is present.

2)  Like all ciliate protists, Paramecium is an heterotrophic organism,    requiring organic compounds for its principal source of food. In other words like animals  Paramecium eats. “But a mouth is needed to eat”, you will say, well Paramecium has a  mouth!!!

 It is called cytostome ( i.e. cellular mouth) and is localized at the end of a funnel shaped   depression of the surface all covered by cilia. Obviously the mouth is not completely open, otherwise cytoplasm would go out, it simply  is a little zone delimited by the plasmamembrane (the typical membrane by which every cell is covered) alone while additional membranes are present on the rest of the cell surface.

When the food, forced by the ciliary beating, reaches the cystostome the membrane blows up like a balloon toward the interior, gathering food and water. When the balloon is swollen enough, it detaches and begin to move in the cytoplasm. There it is reached by small vesicles containing digestive enzymes and is called “food vacuole”.  

The food inside the vacuole is then digested and assimilated. Waste will be then eliminated through another specialized superficial zone called “Cytopige” i.e. cellular anus. 

So Paramecium possess a complete digestive apparatus, comprising mouth and anus, that can be formed every time is needed!!

Noticeably the membranes of disrupted vacuoles are then recycled to form the new ones.

A n excretory apparatus, consisting in the contractile vacuole system, is even present to eliminate excess water and salt.

Schematic drawing of Paramecium

3) What does Paramecium eats?  Bacteria and autotrophic protists often called microalgae. It can be considered in some way “erbivorous”.

     Most Paramecium species live in fresh water, a very variable habitat in which the food amount may be at times scarce.  To avoid starvation, a number of species are able to preserve the food: some food vacuoles are not reached by digestive enzymes and the microalgae they contain remain alive. They can also reproduce since their host will provide to keep them exposed to the light to allow photosynthesis. Then, when the environmental food is lacking, our provident protozoon can digest the algae it grew up or, simply, utilize their photosynthetic products. In a certain way these Paramecia become authotrophs.







Paramecium growing microalgae




4)  As erbivorous animals Paramecium is a potential victim of carnivorous predators (many ciliates are predators).  Many of these predator ciliates  attack and immobilize the pray ( whose presence they detect trough membrane receptors) by a sort of toxic “arrows” (toxicysts) and easily ingest the victim. And the victim is not able to escape? Yes, toxicysts discharge appear to evoke trichocyst discharge in Paramecium. Trichocysts are Paramecium defensive weapons: they are not toxic but their explosive extrusion causes a rapid backward movement by which the victim may escape predation.

Toxycists and trichocysts are two different types  extrusomes, cell organelles present only in protists. Different types of extrusomes exist but all of them can be extruded without damaging the cell.  

Paramecium after trichocysts extrusion

5)  Once the energy accumulated by feeding is enough, Paramecium reproduces. Like all Ciliates, Paramecium has a dual nuclear apparatus, consisting of a  macronucleus in which genes are present in many copies (polyploid)   and one or more diploid micronuclei. The macronucleus controls non-reproductive cell functions, expressing the genes needed for daily functioning. The micronucleus is the generative  nucleus, containing the genetic material that is passed along from one generation to the next.

Paramecia reproduce asexually, by binary fission. During reproduction, the macronucleus splits simply while the micronuclei undergo mitosis. The cell divides transversally after the replication of all cellular structures. In this way each new cell obtains a copy of the micronucleus and the macronucleus and is ready to live autonomously.






Paramecium during binary fission

6)  But Paramecium, like all Ciliates, has also sex!!!!!

We do not know exactly in which situation the “thing” called “conjugation” happens in the natural environment. In the laboratory it is generally induced by a light starvation. Conjugation is only realized between conspecific individuals but not all whit all !!! The two conjugants are of different mating types, in other words of different sex.
 We are not able to distinguish the different mating types but Paramecia are able to recognize each other, through membrane receptors. The recognition  induces a typical preconjugant behavior, that expert protozoologists can easily identify, and finally pair formation. The two conjugants remain attached by the cytostomial zone where a cytoplasmic bridge takes shape. During the process the old macronucleus disintegrates and the micronucleus of the cells undergo meiosis. 

Thus micronucleus is able to perform mitosis and meiosis. 

Then one of the aploid nuclei derived by meiosis pass trough the cytoplasmic bridge in the other partner and fuse with an aploid nucleus there stayed on.  At the end each conjugant has a new diploid nucleus, different from the nucleus they had before. The new macronucleus is formed by replication of the new diploid nucleus.Then the  two individuals separate. They were two at the beginning of the process and are still two at the end. Thus conjugation cannot be considered a kind of reproduction: it is however a sexual phenomenon causing genetic mixing to increase the species variability

A pair of Paramecia

The first great pollution of earth’s atmosphere

 

About 3.5 billions years ago the earth surface was very different  from now, particularly it was less hospitable. Oceans were larger, very often there were volcanic eruptions and meteor showers. Temperatures were probably similar to those registered now but the sunlight was less vivid. The most important feature of the ancient environment was the absence of free oxygen. Indeed it was almost lacking in the atmosphere whose main components were carbon dioxide, methane and  ammonia.

But life was already present!

Which kind of organisms could survive in a such hard environment?

They were only unicellular prokaryotes (like the bacteria and microalgae living today) able to gain energy without oxygen. They were very numerous and different from each other for their metabolism based on different energetic sources (methane, ammonia, sulphur and so on) predators were lacking: nobody was eaten. So they grew and spread everywhere.  

Then, about 2 billion years ago, a new  evolutionary metabolism appeared.

Aquatic organisms called blue-green algae began using energy from the Sun to split molecules of H2O and CO2 and recombine them into organic compounds and molecular oxygen (O2). This solar energy conversion process is known as photosynthesis.   

Yes, the same photosynthesis that practically support life on the earth even now.

According to modern hypothesis photosynthesis originated through the fusion of various evolutionary lines which pulled part of their genetic material.  This fusion of genes, at present referred to as horizontal gene transfer, created a metabolism much more productive than the others already existing, also considering that the sunlight was in the meantime increased. Some of the photosynthetically created oxygen combined with organic carbon to recreate CO2 molecules. The remaining oxygen accumulated in the atmosphere, touching off a massive ecological disaster with respect to early existing anaerobic organisms.

A true atmospheric pollution!

Most species died and disappeared for ever. 

Other species could survive in particular environments with a low oxygen concentration. 

Others “learned” to breathe oxygen while others were able to survive by the fusion with those breathing oxygen organisms.

 In this way the eukaryotic cell originated.

Thus, starting from a great atmospheric transformation, lethal for the majority of the forms of life at that time existing, new forms arose, from which during the time pluricellular organisms (man included) derived.

To cut a long story short: perhaps if the atmospheric pollution in progress now will increase beyond measure we, existing living beings, could succumb while new life forms could be originated on the earth.

Amoebae

 

I wrote some posts about Ciliates, the protists I studied directly for my research work. Then I wrote about Dinoflagellates and Foraminifera. All these protists have a well defined shape and their genus, often even species, can be identified by a simple observation at the light microscope (obviously with  a well-trained eye).

Amoebae are different. Indeed these protists are characterized by an amazing variability in shape. For this reason  the first specimens observed at microscope were called “little Protei” remembering the multiform Greek god Proteus.

Amoebae belong to the class Sarcodina and lack specialized structures for locomotion and sensation like cilia or flagella. Moreover their cell membrane is not reinforced by cuticles or other structures. Their locomotion is trained by extending and retracting pseudopodia, i.e. temporary extension of the protoplasm. In this way Amoebae change continuously their shape. Pseudopodia act as locomotor organelles adhering to the substrate and pulling the body itself. This locomotion is called indeed amoeboid.

Pseudopodia are the key feature of the organisms of Sarcodina.

 Indeed also Foraminifera that are included in this class  have pseudopodia but their are slim and elongate, to be let out trough the shell foramina and may split and rejoin each other. Moreover they contain a rigid internal structure. For this reason are called Actinopodia. Amoebae pseudopodia are instead various in  shape and size, lack of internal rigid structures, and extend from every part of the cellular body.  They are called rizopodia

ameba rizopodia

Foraminifera actinopodia

Amoebae are heterotrophic this means that to live and reproduce they must eat.

They haven’t a cytostoma like ciliates; they traps food particles with the help of pseudopodia that encircle them. After that, the food particle along with water is taken in and digested. This process is called phagocytosis . .

Like other characteristics described in protists amoeboid  motion and  phagocytosis were maintained during evolution and utilized in specialized cells of pluricellular organisms, even in human beings! 

For example in Macrophages, a type of white blood cell of our immune system, that engulf and digest pathogens, such as cancer cells, microbes, cellular debris.

                                               Engulfment of bacteria by macrophages

Free living amoebae are very common: they live in the sea, in fresh water and in damp soil. Their size varies from a few micrometers to millimetres according to the species. They can be “naked” that is without any recovering structure or covered by a rigid shell consisting of different materials (Calcium, Silicium or a conglomeration of environmental debris). These are “thecate”  

                           Arcella vulgaris tecamoeba

·                            Amoebae feed on bacteria, other protists and organic debris. They are primary or secondary consumers small in size that can be eaten by bigger consumers: thus they fit in the food chains.

Some amoeba species can be pathogenic, causing disease in humans and other organisms.  I willingly leave the study of those species to parasitologists. 

My  expertise concerns only free living protists. Those I treated in the course PROTIST ECOLOGY I held for many years at Pisa University.

 

 

Protists: cells and organisms

 Protists: cells and organisms.

Although the kingdom Protists is no more recognized as a real systematic category, the term, written with a small “p” ,   may be still useful to indicate in general eukaryotic unicellular organisms to which this post is dedicated.

  Protists have only one cell and this unique cell not only performs all vital functions typical of eukaryotic cells but also realize and recognize the external stimuli coming from the environment and from every other organism they may contact.  Then, the cell has to work out a suited answer, to get the required energy and finally to reproduce. ……to say the least!!!

As an example I will, thereafter, illustrate what Paramecium, the most famous ciliate protist, often reported even on primary school books, is able to do.

1)   Paramecium is able to move thank to its cilia. Cilia are slender protuberances that project from the cell body. These organelles “invented” by Ciliates, to which Paramecium belongs, are anyway present in many cells of our body with the same structure but used for different purposes. Cilia beat the water like little flexible paddles. Their beating is variable in frequency and direction. Thus the ciliate is able to vary the speed of its motion and to reverse its motion once an obstacle is present.

2)  Like all ciliate protists, Paramecium is an heterotrophic organism,    requiring organic compounds for its principal source of food. In other words like animals  Paramecium eats. “But a mouth is needed to eat”, you will say, well Paramecium has a  mouth!!!

 It is called cytostome ( i.e. cellular mouth) and is localized at the end of a funnel shaped   depression of the surface all covered by cilia. Obviously the mouth is not completely open, otherwise cytoplasm would go out, it simply  is a little zone delimited by the plasmamembrane (the typical membrane by which every cell is covered) alone while additional membranes are present on the rest of the cell surface.

When the food, forced by the ciliary beating, reaches the cystostome the membrane blows up like a balloon toward the interior, gathering food and water. When the balloon is swollen enough, it detaches and begin to move in the cytoplasm. There it is reached by small vesicles containing digestive enzymes and is called “food vacuole”.  

The food inside the vacuole is then digested and assimilated. Waste will be then eliminated through another specialized superficial zone called “Cytopige” i.e. cellular anus. 

So Paramecium possess a complete digestive apparatus, comprising mouth and anus, that can be formed every time is needed!!

Noticeably the membranes of disrupted vacuoles are then recycled to form the new ones.

A secretory apparatus, consisting in the contractile vacuole system, is even present to eliminate excess water and salt.

Schematic drawing of Paramecium

3) What does Paramecium eats?  Bacteria and autotrophic protists often called microalgae. It can be considered in some way “erbivorous”.

     Most Paramecium species live in fresh water, a very variable habitat in which the food amount may be at times scarce.  To avoid starvation, a number of species are able to preserve the food: some food vacuoles are not reached by digestive enzymes and the microalgae they contain remain alive. They can also reproduce since their host will provide to keep them exposed to the light to allow photosynthesis. Then, when the environmental food is lacking, our provident protozoon can digest the algae it grew up or, simply, utilize their photosynthetic products. In a certain way these Paramecia become authotrophs.







Paramecium growing microalgae




4)  As erbivorous animals Paramecium is a potential victim of carnivorous predators (many ciliates are predators).  Many of these predator ciliates  attack and immobilize the pray ( whose presence they detect trough membrane receptors) by a sort of toxic “arrows” (toxicysts) and easily ingest the victim. And the victim is not able to escape? Yes, toxicysts discharge appear to evoke trichocyst discharge in Paramecium. Trichocysts are Paramecium defensive weapons: they are not toxic but their explosive extrusion causes a rapid backward movement by which the victim may escape predation.

Toxycists and trichocysts are two different types  extrusomes, cell organelles present only in protists. Different types of extrusomes exist  in ciliates but all of them can be extruded without damaging the cell. Then new extrusomes are formed in a short time.

Paramecium after trichocyst extrusion

5)  Once the energy accumulated by feeding is enough, Paramecium reproduces. Like all Ciliates, Paramecium has a dual nuclear apparatus, consisting of a  macronucleus in which genes are present in many copies (polyploid)   and one or more diploid micronuclei. The macronucleus controls non-reproductive cell functions, expressing the genes needed for daily functioning. The micronucleus is the generative  nucleus containing the genetic material that is passed along from one generation to the next.

Paramecia reproduce asexually, by binary fission. During reproduction, the macronucleus splits simply while the micronuclei undergo mitosis. The cell divides transversally after the replication of all cellular structures. In this way each new cell obtains a copy of the micronucleus and of the macronucleus and is ready to live autonomously.






Paramecium during binary fission

6)  But Paramecium, like all Ciliates, has also sex!!!!!

We do not know exactly in which situation the “thing” called “conjugation” happens in the natural environment. In the laboratory it is generally induced by a light starvation. Conjugation is only realized between conspecific individuals but not all whit all !!! The two conjugants are of different mating types, in other words of different sex.
 We are not able to distinguish the different mating types but Paramecia are able to recognize each other, through membrane receptors. The recognition  induces a typical preconjugant behavior, that expert protozoologists can easily identify, and finally pair formation. The two conjugants remain attached by the cytostomial zone where a cytoplasmic bridge takes shape. During the process the old macronucleus disintegrates and the micronucleus of the cells undergo meiosis. 

Thus micronucleus is able to perform mitosis and meiosis. 

Then one of the aploid nuclei derived by meiosis pass trough the cytoplasmic bridge in the other partner and fuse with an aploid nucleus there stayed on.  At the end each conjugant has a new diploid nucleus, different from the nucleus they had before. The new macronucleus is formed by replication of the new diploid nucleus. Then the two individuals separate. They were two at the beginning of the process and are still two at the end. Thus conjugation cannot be considered a kind of reproduction: it is however a sexual phenomenon causing genetic mixing to increase the species internal variability

A pair of Paramecia

Protists introduce themselves

 Protists introduce themselves

Who are we?

We are eukaryotic, unicellular organisms. We are very small and

not visible to the naked eye. For this reason we are so little known!

When were we born?

More than one billion years ago.

Where are we living?

We are living in the sea, in lakes and rivers, in the soil and even in the air (in the form of cysts).

What do we look like?

Although we all consist in only one cell,  we are very different from each other in shape, size, behaviour and ecologic role.

  

What are we doing in the environment?

Some of us are autotrophic, that is producers: like  plants. Others are first degree consumers like herbivorous animals while others are second degree consumers like carnivores. Some eat bacteria.  Some more are parasitic or symbiont  of plants or animals.  Many represent a good food for little animals.

Why it is very useful to be acquainted with us?

Because we live among you and we have important roles in all the ecosystems in which yourselves live (see for example the post “nature big recycler”)

Conciliare tecnica ed ecologia: non potevamo pensarci prima!!!!!

  Bisogna conciliare tecnica ed ecologia.

Prima di introdurre cambiamenti e novità tecniche l’uomo dovrebbe studiare come essi si inseriscono nella natura e come la natura può gestirli: sarebbe molto meno dannoso e costoso che cercar di correre ai ripari dopo!

 

Ricordate le Piogge Acide?

 

Negli anni 50-60 del secolo scorso sono stati introdotti i detersivi per gli elettrodomestici che in quegli anni si stavano diffondendo. Pratici, comodissimi ma non si è pensato che essendo derivati dal petrolio non erano biodegradabili. Così i loro componenti si accumulavano nell’ambiente specialmente acquatico. Poi le particelle di detersivo si aggiungevano a quelle diffuse nell'atmosfera da altri inquinanti, venivano catturate e deposte al suolo da precipitazioni sottoforma di piogge, neve, grandine, nebbie, rugiade con effetti disastrosi sulla vegetazione.

                                 Foresta devastata da piogge acide.

Solo dopo aver provocato disastri come quello illustrato nella foto si è corsi ai ripari: ora i detersivi sono, almeno in parte, biodegradabili e contengono meno molecole acide. La diffusione di tali molecole nell’atmosfera è diminuita anche grazie alla introduzione delle marmitte catalitiche e le piogge acide non sono più un problema così grave.

Non sarebbe stato meglio pensarci Prima ?

E il buco nell'ozono?

Nell’atmosfera terrestre, a una ventina di Km sopra le nostre teste, c’è uno strato di ozono che, come uno scudo naturale, ci protegge dai raggi ultravioletti. Se questo scudo non ci fosse non ci sarebbe vita sulla terra.  

Dal 1982 si è cominciato a notare un assottigliamento dello strato di ozono sopra le regioni polari, in particolare nell’Antartide.  Il fatto che questo fenomeno (rinominato comunemente come "buco dell'ozono")  aumentava di anno in anno, ha indotto i governi mondiali ad adottare delle misure per ridurre la produzione e il consumo dei FREON cioè gas    Clorofluorocarburi (CFC), ritenuti in quegli anni gli unici responsabili dell'aumento dell "buco". In particolare, i responsabili dell'assottigliamento dello strato di ozono sono stati ritenuti i gas freon emessi quotidianamente dalle attività umane nei paesi più industrializzati: quelli contenuti nei circuiti frigoriferi, nelle bombolette spray, ecc. Finalmente nel 1990, quando un “buco ”  era comparso anche sopra il Polo Nord, più di 90 paesi decisero di ridurre drasticamente l'uso di queste sostanze.

L' efficacia dei provvedimenti presi è evidente.  Nell’ottobre 2015, il buco nell'ozono si è ridotto di circa 4 milioni di km quadrati rispetto all'anno 2000, quando ha raggiunto la sua massima espansione.

Ora sappiamo che anche fenomeni naturali come eruzioni vulcaniche o grandi incendi possono provocare l'assottigliamento dello strato di ozono come si è verificato nel 2023, ma si tratta di effetti temporanei non continui e crescenti come quelli provocati dall'attività umana.

 

Il buco dell'ozono fotografato dallo spazio

Il buco dell'ozono si sta richiudendo.

 Gli scienziati ipotizzano che, proseguendo con questa tendenza, il risanamento  del buco nell'ozono si avrà intorno al 2050.  

 Siamo di fronte ad un altro pericoloso errore tecnico fatto dall’uomo dovuto alla scarsa conoscenza della natura in tutti suoi livelli.

Non abbiamo dovuto rinunciare alla comodità delle bombolette e dei refrigeratori : con studi adeguati sono state messe a punto altre tecniche meno inquinanti. 

Non ci si poteva pensare prima?

E l’eternit?

Ancora più inquietante è la storia del fibrocemento, materiale da costruzione noto come ETERNIT, contenente fibre di amianto. E’ stato introdotto all’inizio del novecento ed ha avuto in breve tempo un successo mondiale: economico, leggero, resistente, di lunga durata, praticamente eterno. Proprio per questo è stato chiamato ETERNIT!

Come sappiamo si trova ovunque. Il nostro paese è stato uno dei maggiori produttori.

                                                    tettoia di eternit

La cosa inquietante è che a pericolosità dell’amianto per la salute era nota già a partire dagli inizi del secolo, seppure non provata scientificamente. Dalla prova scientifica della pericolosità delle fibre di amianto c’è voluto comunque qualche decennio perché i minerali di amianto fossero messi al bando. Solo nel 1992 vennero finalmente vietate estrazione, lavorazione e commercializzazione dell’amianto in Italia. Fino ad esaurimento scorte l’amianto continuò però ad essere venduto ed utilizzato anche durante tutto il corso del 1994.

In questo caso non si è trattato di ignoranza ma della regola del PROFITTO SUBITO,  prima che gli effetti negativi siano veramente evidenti!!

Non si possono chiudere fabbriche, mandare a casa gli operai! Meglio lasciarli esposti al rischio, in fondo non è detto che si ammalino tutti. E i cittadini che vengono a contatto con l’eternit?  Quanti di noi hanno tettoie di questo materiale ?  Tranquilli l’eternit integro non è dannoso!

Ma lo diventa quando si deteriora e libera le fibre di amianto (asbesto) che si disperdono nell’aria e se vengono inalate causano gravi infiammazioni che possono evolvere in cancro e mesotelioma. E con gli anni le possibilità di deterioramento, si accumulano anche se è l’eternit era considerato eterno.

                                                 tettoia  logorata

 Così le vittime  continuano ad aumentare. E’ stata anche istituita una giornata mondiale per le vittime dell’amianto: il28 aprile. Mentre cifre enormi e a volte altri morti sono il tributo da pagare per la rimozione di questo materiale che è veramente dovunque.

 

                           Operaio in tenuta per la rimozione di eternit

E poi c'è la plastica

La storia della plastica ha inizio nel 1862, quando il chimico inglese Alexander Parkes crea e brevetta il primo materiale plastico semisintetico, la Parkesina (più nota poi come Xylonite). Gli anni Trenta e la Seconda Guerra Mondiale segnano il passaggio definitivo verso quella che viene definita l’Era della Plastica, cìoè l’era in cui la plastica è indubbiamente il materiale più utilizzato nei campi più disparati: nell'edilizia, nell'industria, nelle automobili, nell'arredamento ecc.

                       Chi non ha mobili e utensili di plastica in casa?

Certamente i materiali plastici presentano diversi vantaggi rispetto ai materiali metallici, tra cui l’elevata leggerezza e il basso costo. Non si era però considerato che non esistono agenti capaci di decomporre e riciclare questi materiali in cui gli elementi sono combinati in modi nuovi, non previsti finora dalla natura. Per questo la combinazione di smaltimento inadeguato, perdite durante la produzione e soprattutto l’uso eccessivo di plastica monouso hanno portato alla situazione attuale di grave inquinamento da plastica in mare. 

Affrontare efficacemente questo problema richiederebbe azioni coordinate a livello globale, tra cui la riduzione della produzione e dell’uso di plastica monouso, il miglioramento delle infrastrutture per il riciclo dei rifiuti plastici e l’educazione pubblica sulla necessità di limitare l’uso soprattutto di quelle usa e getta!  Ma non sarà facile!

|La politica europea va in questa direzione ma non tutti i paesi si adeguano allo stesso modo. L'talia sembra che sela cavi. L'industria automobilistica per la quale la plastica è essenziale, sta puntando sull'uso di quella riciclata.

Speriamo bene ...ma non potevamo pensarci prima!!!

                                Fiat 500 con  sedili in plastica riciclata