Subject Zoology
Paper No. and Title IX: Non-Chordates
Module No. and Title 1: REPRODUCTION IN PROTOZOA
Module Tag DBF_ZOO_PIX_M1
Year 2020-2021
Dr. R. K. Dawale
Associate Professor,
Department of Zoology,
D. B. F. Dayanand College of Arts and Science, Solapur
PAPER No.: IX (NON-CHORDATES)
ZOOLOGY
MODULE No. 2 (REPRODUCTION IN PROTOZOA)
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Learning Outcomes
2. Introduction
3. Types of Reproduction in Protozoa
I) Asexual Reproduction in Protozoa
II) sexual Reproduction in Protozoa
4. Summery
1. Learning Outcomes:
In this module,
You shall learn about the information regarding the concept
of reproduction in protozoa.
You shall learn about Various types of reproductions like
Sexual and Asexual, parthenogenesis etc.
You get knowledge about habit and habitats of the
protozoans.
2. INTRODUCTION:
Protozoans reproduce in a variety of ways and the process of reproduction is variable
amongst different groups. But in all essence and purpose protozoan reproduction is nothing
more than the division of the cell. It reproduces both asexually and sexually.
I. Asexual Reproduction: When the continuity of species is main-tained without the
participation of the gam-etes and the asexual reproduction takes place by the division of the
body of individual into two or more parts, these parts give rise to the new individuals.
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The asexual reproduction is of the follow-ing types:
A. Binary fission,
B. Multiple fission or Sporulation,
1. Schizogony or Agamogony
2. Gamogony
3. Sporogony
C. Plasmotomy
D. Budding
E. Repeated fission.
A. Binary fission:
It is the usual method in which the body of the individual divides into two equal halves
and the furrow ex-tends along the long and the extended axis of the body.
Depending upon the plane of division, the binary fissions are of the following
cat-egories:
(i) Transverse binary fission:
The plane of division of the body constricts transversely, e.g., Paramoecium.
(ii) Longitudinal binary fission:
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The plane of constriction is along the long axis of the animal, e.g., Euglena, Vorticella,
Trypanosoma etc.
(iii) Oblique binary fission:
The plane of division is somewhat oblique, e.g., Ceratium. The different organelles
present in the body may divide or they may be retained by one of the daughter cells; while in
the other cell regenerates the lost organelles. In extreme cases organelles disappear altogether
and are regenerated by both the offspring.
(iv) Encysted condition: In Colpoda, Tellina and in testaceans, binary fission takes place in
encysted condition. One of the daughter individuals remains within the old test while the other
moves away to form a new one.
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B. Multiple fission or Sporulation: In multiple fission the body divides and a number of
daughter individuals are formed. The nucleus divides a number of times and a multinucleate
state result. The nuclei come to the periphery and gather some amount of cytoplasm round
them. The cell-membrane breaks and daughter individuals correspond-ing to the number of
nuclei are produced.
The number of individuals produced by multiple fission varies and sometimes as many
as 1000 individuals are formed. Mul-tiple fission occurs in Foraminifera, Radiolarians and
Sporozoans. Multiple fission is also known by the following names:
1. Schizogony or Agamogony: When the products of the fission directly develop into
individuals as in Plasmodium in the red blood cells or hepatic cells of man.
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2. Gamogony: When the products are sex cells as the microgametocytes of Plasmodium.
3. Sporogony: When it occurs following sexual fusion as in Monocystis and Plasmo-dium.
C. Plasmotomy: It is the division of the cell-body without nuclear division and oc-curs in
many multinucleate ciliates like Opalina.
D. Budding: It is a process in which one or more individuals are produced on the body of the
parent and are budded off. The indi-viduals generally do not resemble the mother and undergo
further development before or after being free. Budding occurs only in Suctoria. The site of
bud formation may be inside or outer side of the body.
1. Exogenous bud: When the buds are constricted off to the exterior as in Noctiluca and some
Myxosporidia.
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2. Endogenous bud: When the buds are formed in the brood chamber or internal spaces of the
mother body and come out later as in Testaceans, Arcella, Suctorians and many Myxosporidia.
E. Repeated fission: In which equal division of the nucleus occurs twice or thrice forming four
or eight nuclei which do not separate till the process for which the nu-cleus divides is complete
as in the micronucleus of Paramoecium and Volvox.
II. Sexual Reproduction:
Sexual reproduction is one when it takes place by the union of two entire individuals or
it involves merely the nuclear exchange and their subsequent fusion. In Protozoa the sexual
reproduction occurs by the following processes:
A. Syngamy or Copulation: In which union of two sexual cells, called gametes, occur. On the
basis of structure and behav-iour of the sexual units the following types of syngamy can be
recognised:
(a) Hologamy: In which no true gamete formation takes place but two mature trophic
individuals unite with each other and fusion of both nucleus and cytoplasm takes place. It
occurs in few flagellates and rhizopods.
(b) Isogamy: The copulating sex units are similar in size and form and cannot be
mor-phologically distinguished from each other though there exist physiological differences.
The units are generally produced by multi-ple fission. Isogamy is common in Formaminifera,
Gregarines and Phytomonadina like Copromonas.
(c) Anisogamy: It is fusion of dissimilar gametes. The copulating sex units are dis-similar in
size, form and behaviour. The large and non-motile unit is called female or macrogamete and
the small mobile one is termed male or microgamete in such fusion. They widely occur in
Phytomonadina and Sporozoa, e.g., Plasmodium.
(d) Oogamy: In this case the gametes are quite dissimilar. The female gamete is non- motile
egg and the male is a flagellate and motile sperm. It is found in Volvex.
(e) Paedogamy: When the fusing pronu-clei are present in two different cells derived from a
single parent cell, the process is called paedogamy. The process has been observed in
Actinophrys sold by Blar (1922) and in some Myxosporidia.
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Significance of syngamy:
(i) Syngamy brings about a nuclear re-organization, and physiologically it has distinct effects.
(ii) It brings two previously separated lines of heredity in close association.
(iii) It increases diversity among the off-spring.
B. Conjugation: Conjugation may be defined as a temporary union of two indi-viduals
belonging to same species for the purpose of exchange of nuclear material. Conjugation is a
complex process in which several nuclear divisions occur both in the preparatory and post-
conjugation phases and one of these divisions is meiotic in nature. Conjugation occurs in
Euciliates and Suctorians.
Significance of conjugation:
(i) Conjugation helps in rejuvenescence to gain vigour and vitality.
(ii) It brings about the genetic recombi-nation, and the origin of genetic vari-ations takes place.
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(iii) Reorganesation of nuclear apparatus takes place between the individuals.
Aberrant reproduction in Paramoecium: Peculiar variation in behaviour of Paramoecium in
nuclear division during conjugation is encountered.
These variations in behaviour have been classified in the following ways:
(a) Autogamy: Very similar to conjuga-tion but all the changes occur in a single individual. It
is accompanied by fusion of pronuclei and meiosis and provides an op-portunity for the
reshuffling of genes. Auto-gamy occurs in Paramoecium aurelia.
(b) Endomixis: Woodruff and Erdmann (1914) first described the process in Paramoecium
aurelia. This is very similar to conjugation but nuclear changes are restricted to a single
individual. Fusion of pronuclei and meiosis does not occur, though a new meganucleus is
formed out of the micro- nuclear material as in conjugation.
(c) Hemimixis: The process was observed by Diller (1936) in Paramoecium aurelia and P.
multimicronucleatum. In this case the meganucleus behaves in a strange fashion. It divides into
two or a part of it may be pro-truded into the cell mass. The meganuclear activity is independent
of cell division or syngamy.
Parthenogenesis: In case the syn-gamy is missed, gametes develop parthenogenetically. The
examples are Actinophrys, Polytoma and Chlamydomonas.
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Regeneration: Protozoa possess a remarkable power to regenerate lost parts, provided nuclear
material is included. When an amoeba is cut into two parts and the parts are kept in proper
environment—the part without nucleus degenerates while the nu-clear part regenerates. Shell
of Foraminifera regenerates if broken. Besides these restora-tive regenerations in protozoa
there occur regenerations of lost parts like cilia, flagella, cytostome and vacuoles after asexual
and sexual reproduction. The process of morpho-genesis in regeneration and reorganisation has
been a subject of research.
Nuclear Division:
A. Mitosis:The modes of nuclear divi-sion during reproduction are worthy of con-sideration.
Earlier the existence of mitotic phenomenon in protozoa used to be disre-garded and it was
advocated that in protozoa there occurs ‘amitoses or an unusual type of mitosis. Now it has
been made evident that the nuclear division in protozoa passes through all the steps of mitosis
and is iden-tical with those of metazoan cells in most cases and in the rest they are abbreviated.
The mitotic phenomenon in protozoa is de-scribed in the following ways:
(1) Eumitosis: When there is distinct chromosome formation and chromosomes on the whole
behave like those of the metazoan. Eumitosis is a common feature of free-living forms.
(2) Paramitosis: The chromosomes dur-ing paramitotic division do not shorten at metaphase
and remain asymmetrically arranged on the equator of the spindle. The sister chromatids do
not lie side by side but hang together at one end. As a result, during separation, they present a
picture of false transverse division of chromosomes. Paramitosis occurs in Coccidians,
Dinoflagellates, etc.
(3) Cryptomitosis: In cryptomitosis trans-lation of the chromatin material into chro-mosomes
is lacking and the whole chroma-tin material is lodged as a mass on the equa-tor of the spindle.
The chromatin mass be-comes divided into two halve which go to the two poles. Cryptomitosis
occurs in parasitic and coprozoic forms like Hoylosyoridium and Naegleria.
B. Meiosis: The Protozoan nuclei undergo divisions prior to sexual reproduction. And it is
expected that one of these divisions should be meiotic in nature so that the con-stancy of the
number of chromosomes could be maintained.Information about meiosis in protozoa is scanty
or fragmentary. Meiotic division in protozoa may occur before the formation of gametes (pre-
gametic) or after the fusion of gametes (post-zygotic). Pregametic meiosis occurs in
Paramoecium and post-zygotic in Telosporidia.
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Cytoplasmic Division: The division of nucleus is followed by division of cytoplasm and extra-
nuclear organelles, such as chromatophores and pyrenoid, blepharoplast and kinetosome. But
nuclear division in encysted condition results accumulation of cytoplasm round each nu-cleus
and there is no cytoplasmic division in true sense.
Encystment: Many protozoa exhibit a phase reversal. At one phase of life cycle, they remain
active and carry-on vital life processes and in an-other phase they become inactive and dis-card
most of the life processes. The active phase is called trophic or trophozoite stage and the
inactive phase is called cyst and cystic stage. That means many protozoa are capa-ble of
existing alternately as trophic and cystic forms.
Summery:
In Stentor coeruleus, a process called physiological regenera-tion takes place
occasionally and its biological significance is not known. During the transformation from
trophic to cystic the trophozoites cease to ingest, extrude remains of food particle and become
round in appearance. This phase is called the pre-cystic phase. De-differentiation of the whole
organism now occurs and cell organellae like cilia, peristome, axostyle, contractile vacuole,
etc., are absorbed. Finally, they secrete substances which solidify and form resistant walls
round the organism.
Thus, a cyst is formed. The number of walls in a cyst varies from 1-3. The cysts are
capable of remaining viable for a long time. The wall of the cysts contains silliceous plates in
Euglypha, cellulose in Phytomonadina and chitinous elements in most cases.
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Video:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kVSnvSwnVMixVd_27Bk2Moq834Y0q2i-
/view?usp=sharing
Assignment: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf-
BiLH33jUBgYxuQCCgKharGqaE7lxIgimcNyyZRQqyLmwog/viewform?usp=
sf_link
Know more:
Suggested readings, web links:
1. Text book of Invertebrates Dhami Dhami
2. Invertebrates by R.L.Kotpal
3. Text book of Non chordates by S.N.Prasad
4. https://www.biologydiscussion.com/invertebrate-
zoology/protozoa/protozoa-nutrition-respiration-and-excretion/32547
PAPER No.: IX (NON-CHORDATES)
ZOOLOGY MODULE No. 1 (REPRODUCTION IN PROTOZOA)
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