explain the structure of an amoeba??
Answers
Answer:
✯Structure of Amoeba
Typically, most amoebas are characterized by the following features:
- Movement occurs through the use of pseudopodia, where the cytoplasm pushes the plasma membrane outward or inward, creating blunt, finger-like projections.
- There can be multiple pseudopodia at one particular instance, hence, its shape rapidly changes.
- Structure of amoeba primarily encompasses 3 parts – the cytoplasm, plasma membrane and the nucleus.
- The cytoplasm can be differentiated into 2 layers – the outer ectoplasm and the inner endoplasm
- The plasma membrane is a very thin, double-layered membrane composed of protein and lipid molecules.
- Amoeba also contains other cellular organelles such as a contractile vacuole, mitochondria, Golgi apparatus and fat globules.
- Amoeba consumes food either through the process of phagocytosis or pinocytosis.
- The process of reproduction is through asexual means, such as binary fission.
- The lifespan of a typical amoeba is 2 days, but because it undergoes binary fission, the resultant daughter cells are the same as its parent cell, so technically, amoebas can be termed as immortal.
- When living conditions are not ideal, an amoeba can essentially transform itself into a protective ball, called a microbial cyst. When living conditions become better, it can revert back to its trophozoite stage, where it can start feeding again.
Explanation:
◉LET'S EXPLORE MORE
✯What is Amoeba?
Amoeba is a unicellular organism that has the ability to change its shape. They are usually found in water bodies such as ponds, lakes and slow-moving rivers. Sometimes, these unicellular organisms can also make their way inside the human body and cause various illnesses.
One of the first reports referencing amoebas dates can be traced back to 18th century. A German naturalist named August Johann Rösel von Rosenhof who discovered a specimen and made detailed illustrations of the same in 1755.
✯Nutrition in Amoeba
Nutrition in an Amoeba occurs through a process called phagocytosis where the entire organism pretty much engulfs the food it plans on eating up. The mode of nutrition in amoeba is known as holozoic nutrition. It involves the ingestion, digestion and egestion of food material.
✯What is Holozoic Nutrition?
Holozoic nutrition is the process of nutrition that takes place in organisms which take solid or liquid food inside their body. Amoeba follows holozoic nutrition.
Holozoic nutrition in amoeba takes place in the following steps:
- Ingestion
- Digestion
- Absorption
- Assimilation
- Egestion
✯Process Of Nutrition In Amoeba
The different processes involved in holozoic nutrition in amoeba are:
☆Ingestion
- Ingestion is the process of taking in the food into the body either by swallowing or absorbing it. Amoeba pushes out the pseudopodia to encircle the food and engulfs it forming a food vacuole. This process is known as phagocytosis.
☆Digestion
- Digestion is the process of breaking the insoluble and large food molecules into soluble and minute molecules. In amoeba, the food vacuoles are transported deeper into the cell and with the help of the digestive enzymes, the large insoluble particles are broken down to the simplest molecules.
☆Absorption
- In this process of absorption, the nutrients from the digested food material are absorbed into the cell’s cytoplasm by leaving behind the undigested particles. This process is called diffusion. The excess food is stored in the form of glycogen and lipids.
☆Assimilation
- Assimilation is the process of obtaining energy from the absorbed food molecules. In amoeba, absorbed food molecules are utilized for producing the energy required to carry out different life processes within the cell.
☆Egestion
- Egestion is the process of excretion of undigested food material. In amoeba, this process is carried out by rupturing the cell membrane to remove the undigested food material from its body.
Note:Refer the Attachment
