In the first instance we tend to answer mosquito.
But that is not entirely right!
Malaria is not caused by the mosquito,
it is only transmitted by this vector.
Malaria is caused by the organisms
belonging to the genus Plasmodium!
And what are these organisms?
Well, they fall in the next category of microbes
that we will be learning in this video.
The third category of microorganisms,
these are called the Protozoa.
As the name suggests,
Proto stands for primitive while Zoan means animal.
Wait a second,
are we saying these are organisms primitive to animals?
Yes!
They are unicellular in nature.
However, the single cell has highly complex functions.
Hence they are also referred to
as the 'pinnacle of unicellular complexity'.
So what do you think will be their structure?
Well they have a typical eukaryotic cell structure.
Just the nucleus and the membrane bound organelles,
form an integral part of the cell.
Many of them possess food vacuoles,
which are used to store food.
And these cells do not have a cell wall.
Are there any more special features?
Many of them have additional features
like cilia of flagellum for locomotion.
Cilia are these tiny hair like structures
which are present throughout the body.
Flagellum on the other hand
is usually a slender long filament,
which is single or rarely multiple in number.
Now this was their structure.
What could be their nutrition type?
Here, we are referring to whether they are autotrophic
that is self nourishing
or heterotrophic meaning they cannot prepare their own food.
We know that these cells are like animal cells and have mobility.
So do you think they will be autotrophic like plants?
Of course not! These are heterotrophic in nature.
Yes!
They are dependent on other organisms as their food source.
Only a few rare exceptions include the chlorophyll
containing Euglena.
It usually performs photosynthesis.
But others lack the capacity to do so.
Many organisms belonging to the protozoan group
are well known parasites.
They derive nutrition directly from the body of living organisms.
So they do not kill the host,
but do harm them severely!
A few commonly known examples of protozoans
include Amoeba, Euglena,
Paramecium, and the disease-causing
Plasmodium.
This was about the third category that is the Protozoa.
In the next video,
we will discuss the last type that is the algae in detail.
