Protozoan Vocab

Front 1

Asexual

Back 1

Used to describe a parasitic stage which does not reproduce sexually (does not utilize meiosis or gametes)

Can still divide by binary fission or other methods.

Front 2

Autoinfection

Back 2

Spread of infection from one side of the body to the other. Used to describe a host which is both the IH and the DH without parasite transmission from other animals

Particularly damaging due to the large number of offspring many parasites produce

Front 3

Axostyle

Back 3

Organelle of protozoan flagellate parasites which extends from the kinetosome to the posterior end of the organism

"Like a backbone"

Front 4

Bradyzoite

Back 4

Stage of coccidian parasite that develops within a cyst, similar to merozoite.

Divide slowly.

Front 5

Coccidiocide

Back 5

An agent which kills a coccidian

Front 6

Coccidiostatic

Back 6

An agent that prevents growth and reproduction of coccidian without killing it

Front 7

Gamonts

Back 7

"A gametocyte"

A unicellular parasite stage which is either an oocyte or spermatocyte and can produce a gamete which can fuse to another gamete to become a zygote

Front 8

Kinetoplast

Back 8

Accessory body of protozoan parasites; ribosomal organelles associated with organelles of motility such as flagellum

Front 9

Macrogamete

Back 9

Large gametocte typically considered "female"

Involved in sexual reproduction of some protozoan parasites

Front 10

Merogeny

Back 10

The process of schizogony in which mierozoites are produced

Front 11

Merozoite

Back 11

Daughter cell of some protozoan parasites which results from a sporozoite invading a host cell

Front 12

Microgamete

Back 12

The gamete stage of some protozoan parasites typically considered "male"

Front 13

Micronemes

Back 13

Slender body which join into a duct system opening at the top of a sporozoite or merozoite

Front 14

Micropyle

Back 14

A pore in the oocyst of some coccidian

Front 15

Oocyst

Back 15

The "egg" of a protozoan parasite which results from sporogony, may or may not be covered by a resistant membrane

Front 16

Parasitophorus vacuole

Back 16

Space within a host cell which contains a parasite

Bound by the host cell membrane

Front 17

Pseudopodium

Back 17

A protoplasmic process extended by some protozoa during locomotion

Front 18

Schizont

Back 18

A cell which is undergoing schizogony or merogony (asexual reproduction involving multiple meiosis

Can be very large containing many merozoites

Front 19

Sexual

Back 19

Utilizes meiosis and gametes to combine genetic material from two individuals to produce one offspring

May produce sexually and/or asexually

Front 20

Sporogony

Back 20

Multiple fission of a zygote

Front 21

Sporulation of oocyst

Back 21

Coccidian oocysts undergo a process of division in which the nucleus divides within the oocyst shell following its emergence from the host

Sporulation is necessary for the oocyst to become infective

Front 22

Tachyzoite

Back 22

Small stage of Toxoplasma which resembles a merozoite, develops within a parastiophorous vacuole

Divides rapidly

Front 23

Trophozoites

Back 23

Active, feeding stage of a protozoan

Front 24

Undulating Membrane

Back 24

A flagellum located beneath a membrane surrounding the entire mastigophoran parasite

Front 25

Xenodiagnosis

Back 25

ID of a parasite by infection of a test animal

Front 26

Zoites

Back 26

A motile, banana or cigar shaped cell, rounded at one end and pointed at the other end.

It is the zoite that migrates in the host and invades cells, the zoite that represents the beginning and the end point of every coccidian life process

Front 27

Zygote

Back 27

Stage of development following fusion of two gametes