What Helps Protists Grow?

Protists are a group of mostly single-cell organisms from the Protista Kingdom. The Protista is a primitive form of life that is not a plant, animal or fungus, but does form a single cell around a nucleus.

  1. Protists

    • The majority of protists are unicellular, although some can become multicultural, such as algae, Biology Corner reports. In order to survive and grow, protists require a form of aerobic cellular respiration to take place, while in some photosynthesis can take place in order to provide food for growth and reproduction. Protists can be divided into three broad groups, which are protozoa, algae and heterotrophy.

    Mitosis

    • One of the main forms of growth used by protists to grow and reproduce is mitosis, a form of cell division where an exact replica of the single cell is produced from the initial cell. A cell makes an exact copy of the chromosomes within itself before dividing to create a second exact copy of itself. A small period of regrowth occurs before the two cells begin to copy themselves again and divide again. Throughout the life of a cell it is capable of containing two series of chromosomes that exactly match each other.

    Meiosis

    • Some protists use the reproduction technique of meiosis where a single set of chromosomes is produced by the fertilization of the egg by a male sperm cell. In this form of growth a combination of the male and female chromosomes are reproduced to create a single, independent set of chromosomes.

    Conditions

    • Protists from different groups require favorable conditions in which to grow and reproduce, but the main constituent needed for growth is the presence of water. Protists such as algae are capable of surviving in large bodies of water, while others are capable of surviving in moist soils and in the host body of an animal. Within water certain types of protists survive by feeding on food. Cells such as the amoeba gain food by surrounding and engulfing food through a form of vacuole. The amoeba moves to a food source using pseudopodia, a form of false feet that extend from the body of the cell, according to Biology Corner. Other forms of protists, such as the paramecium, have a form of mouth opening or pore that acts as an entrance to a gullet. Inside this type of protist the required nutrients are taken from the food before waste is expelled from an anal pore.