Amoeba: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|Cellular body type}}

 

An '''amoeba''' ({{IPAc-en|ə|ˈ|m|iː|b|ə}}; less commonly spelled '''ameba''' or '''amœba'''; {{plural form}}: '''amoebas''' (less commonly, '''amebas''') or '''amoebae''' ('''amebae''') {{IPAc-en|ə|ˈ|m|iː|b|i}}),<ref>[http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/amoeba "Amoeba"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151122195608/http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/amoeba |date=22 November 2015 }} at Oxforddictionaries.com</ref> often called an '''amoeboid''', is a type of [[Cell (biology)|cell]] or [[unicellular organism]] with the ability to alter its shape, primarily by extending and retracting [[pseudopodia|pseudopods]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Dictionary of Microbiology and Molecular Biology, 3rd Edition, revised|url=https://archive.org/details/dictionarymicrob00sing_558|url-access=limited|last=Singleton|first=Paul|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|year=2006|isbn=978-0-470-03545-0 |location=Chichester, UK|pages=[https://archive.org/details/dictionarymicrob00sing_558/page/n42 32]}}</ref> Amoebae do not form a single [[Taxonomy (biology)|taxonomic group]]; instead, they are found in every major [[Lineage (evolution)|lineage]] of [[eukaryote|eukaryotic]] organisms. Amoeboid cells occur not only among the [[protozoa]], but also in [[fungi]], [[algae]], and [[animals]].<ref name=":1">{{cite web|url=http://tolweb.org/notes/?note_id=51|title=Amoebae: Protists Which Move and Feed Using Pseudopodia|author=David J. Patterson|publisher=Tree of Life web project|access-date=21 September 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100615015212/http://tolweb.org/notes/?note_id=51|archive-date=15 June 2010|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bms.ed.ac.uk/research/others/smaciver/amoebae.htm |title=The Amoebae |publisher=The University of Edinburgh |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090610035748/http://www.bms.ed.ac.uk/research/others/smaciver/amoebae.htm |archive-date=10 June 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/wimsmall/sundr.html|title=Sun animalcules and amoebas|author=Wim van Egmond|publisher=Microscopy-UK|access-date=23 October 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051104122947/http://microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/wimsmall/sundr.html|archive-date=4 November 2005|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Flor-Parra |first1=Ignacio |last2=Bernal |first2=Manuel |last3=Zhurinsky |first3=Jacob |last4=Daga |first4=Rafael R.|date=2013-12-17|title=Cell migration and division in amoeboid-like fission yeast |journal=Biology Open |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=108–115|doi=10.1242/bio.20136783 |issn=2046-6390|pmc=3892166 |pmid=24357230}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Friedl |first1=P. |last2=Borgmann|first2=S.|last3=Bröcker|first3=E. B.|date=2001-10-01|title=Amoeboid leukocyte crawling through extracellular matrix: lessons from the Dictyostelium paradigm of cell movement|journal=Journal of Leukocyte Biology |volume=70|issue=4 |pages=491–509 |doi=10.1189/jlb.70.4.491 |issn=0741-5400|pmid=11590185|s2cid=28731650 }}</ref>

 

The best known amoeboid [[protists]] are ''[[Chaos carolinense]]'' and ''[[Amoeba proteus]]'', both of which have been widely cultivated and studied in classrooms and laboratories.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Tan|display-authors=et al|date=2005|title=A simple mass culture of the amoeba Chaos carolinense: revisit|url=http://protistology.ifmo.ru/num4_2/tan.pdf|journal=Protistology|volume=4|pages=185–90|access-date=28 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170929000449/http://protistology.ifmo.ru/num4_2/tan.pdf|archive-date=29 September 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://davidwangblog.wordpress.com/relationship-with-humans/|title=Relationship with Humans|date=2013-04-12|work=Amoeba proteus|access-date=2017-09-28|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170929000804/https://davidwangblog.wordpress.com/relationship-with-humans/|archive-date=29 September 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> Other well known species include the so-called "brain-eating amoeba" ''[[Naegleria fowleri]]'', the intestinal parasite ''[[Entamoeba histolytica]]'', which causes [[amoebic dysentery]], and the multicellular "social amoeba" or [[slime mould]] ''[[Dictyostelium discoideum]]''.

== Biology ==

=== Pseudopods and movement ===