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Amoeba proteus extending lobose pseudopodia. A pseudopod or pseudopodium (pl.: pseudopods or pseudopodia) is a temporary arm-like projection of a eukaryotic cell membrane that is emerged in the direction of movement. Filled with cytoplasm, pseudopodia primarily consist of actin filaments and may also contain microtubules and intermediate filaments.
An amoeba (/ ə ˈ m iː b ə /; less commonly spelled ameba or amœba; pl.: amoebas (less commonly, amebas) or amoebae (amebae) / ə ˈ m iː b i /), [1] often called an amoeboid, is a type of cell or unicellular organism with the ability to alter its shape, primarily by extending and retracting pseudopods. [2]
Amoeboid movement is the most typical mode of locomotion in adherent eukaryotic cells. [1] It is a crawling-like type of movement accomplished by protrusion of cytoplasm of the cell involving the formation of pseudopodia ("false-feet") and posterior uropods.
These pseudopodia can be as long as three times the diameter of the cell body and may be branched or unbranched. [6] The pseudopodia may accumulate in the direction in which the organism moves. [3] Shorter, slow moving, pin-like pseudopodia are projected and withdrawn very quickly from the cell body in addition to having longer pseudopodia.
Pseudopods (Greek for false feet) are lobe-like appendages which amoebas use to anchor to a solid surface and pull themselves forward. They can change their shape by extending and retracting these pseudopods. [14] Amoeba: Found in every major protist lineage. Amoeboid cells occur among the protozoans, but also in the algae and the fungi. [15 ...
Amoeba proteus is a large species of amoeba closely related to another genus of giant amoebae, Chaos. As such, the species is sometimes given the alternative scientific name Chaos diffluens. [1] [2] Amoeba proteus in locomotion. This protozoan uses extensions called pseudopodia to move and to eat smaller unicellular organisms.
It produces leptopodia from its pseudopodia for movement inside the alga. It then divides by mitosis and splits by binary fission. When the food source is depleted and feeding stopped, each daughter cell produces a flagellum from its flagellar pit. The flagellates escape into water and start swimming to restart another cycle of development. [1]
In some cases the cell moves by "walking", with relatively permanent pseudopodia serving as limbs. The most important genera are Amoeba and Chaos, which are set apart from the others by longitudinal ridges. The best known of the species in this family is Amoeba proteus, commonly used in classrooms to demonstrate movement by pseudopodia.