Reproduction and life cycles

Cell division in protists, as in plant and animal cells, is not a simple process, although it may superficially appear to be so. The typical mode of reproduction in most of the major protistan taxa is asexual binary fission. The body of an individual protist is simply pinched into two parts or halves; the “parental” body disappears and is replaced by a pair of offspring or daughter nuclei, although the latter may need to mature somewhat to be recognizable as members of the parental species. The length of time for completion of the process of binary fission varies among groups of organisms and with environmental conditions; generally it ranges from just a few hours in an optimal situation to many days under other circumstances. In some unicellular algal protists, reproduction occurs by fragmentation. Mitotic replications of the nuclear material presumably accompany or precede all divisions of the cytoplasm (cytokinesis) in protists.

Multiple fission also occurs among protists and is common in some parasitic species. The nucleus divides repeatedly to produce a number of daughter nuclei, which eventually become the nuclei of the progeny after repeated cellular divisions. There are several kinds of multiple fission, often correlated with phases or stages in the full life cycle of a given species. The number of offspring or filial products resulting from a multiple division (or very rapid succession of binary fissions) may vary from four to dozens or even hundreds, generally in a short period of time. Modes of such multiple fission range from budding, in which a daughter nucleus is produced and split from the parent together with some of the surrounding cytoplasm, to sporogony (production of sporozoites by repeated divisions of a zygote) and schizogony (formation of multiple merozoites, as in malarial parasites). The latter two phenomena are characteristic of many protists that are obligate parasites of more advanced eukaryotes. Some multicellular algal protists reproduce via asexual spores, structures that are themselves often produced by a series of rapid fissions.

Even under a light microscope, differences can be seen in the modes of division among diverse groups of protists. The flagellates, for example, exhibit a longitudinal, or mirror-image, type of fission (symmetrogenic fission). The ciliates, on the other hand, basically divide in a point-by-point correspondence of parts (homothetogenic fission), often seen as essentially transverse or perkinetal (across the kineties, or ciliary rows). Many amoebas exhibit, in effect, no clear-cut body symmetry or polarity, and thus their fission is basically simpler and falls into neither of the categories described above.

Sexual phenomena are known among the protists. The erroneous view that practically all protists reproduce asexually is explained by the fact that certain well-known organisms, such as species belonging to the genus Euglena, do not demonstrate sexuality. Even many of the unicellular species can, under appropriate conditions, form gametes (sex cells), which fuse and give rise to a new, genetically unique generation. In fact, sexual reproduction—the union of two gametes (syngamy)—is the most common sexual phenomenon and occurs quite widely among the protists—for example, among various flagellated organisms and pseudopods and among many parasitic phyla (e.g., in Plasmodium, a malaria-causing organism).

Conjugation, the second major kind of sexual phenomenon and one occurring in the ciliated protists, has genetic and evolutionary results identical to those of syngamy. The process involves the fusion of gametic nuclei rather than independent gamete cells. A zygotic, or fusion, nucleus, not a true zygote, is produced and undergoes a series of meiotic divisions to produce a number of haploid pronuclei; all but one of these pronuclei in each organism will disintegrate. The remaining pronuclei divide mitotically; one pronucleus from each organism is exchanged, and the new micronuclei and macronuclei of the next generation are formed. Following the exchange of the pronuclei and the subsequent formation of new micronuclei and macronuclei in each organism, a series of asexual fissions, accompanied by mitotic divisions of the new diploid micronuclei, occurs in each exconjugant line. The new polyploid macronuclei are distributed passively in the first of these divisions; in subsequent fission, the macronuclei duplicate themselves through a form of mitosis. This last stage constitutes the only reproduction involved in the process.

Conjugation, as described here, is essentially limited to the ciliates, and there is considerable variation in the manner in which it is exhibited among them. For example, the two ciliates themselves may be of noticeably different size (called macroconjugants and microconjugants), or the number of predivisions of the micronuclei may vary, as may the number of nuclear divisions that take place after the zygotic nucleus is formed. Furthermore, chemical signals (gamones) are given or exchanged before a pair of protists unite in conjugation. It is not known if these gamones should be considered as sex pheromones, reminiscent of those known in many animals (for example, certain insects), but they seem to serve the similar purpose of attracting or bringing together different mating types.

While conjugation may be considered a process of reciprocal fertilization, a parallel sexual phenomenon in ciliates, which takes place in single, unpaired individuals, may be considered a process of self-fertilization. In this type of fertilization, called autogamy, complete homozygosity is obtained in the lines derived from the single parent.

Protist life cycles range from relatively simple ones that may involve only periodic binary fissions to very complex schemes that may contain asexual and sexual phases, encystment and excystment, and—in the case of many symbiotic and parasitic forms—an alternation of hosts. In the more complicated life cycles in particular, the morphology of the organism may be strikingly different (polymorphism) from phase to phase in the entire life cycle. Among certain ciliate groups in which a larval or migratory form (known as a swarmer) is produced by the parent, the offspring may demonstrate remarkably different morphology.

Dormant stages in a life cycle are probably more common in algal protists than in protozoan protists. Such stages, somewhat analogous to hibernation in mammals, serve to preserve the species during unfavourable conditions, as in times of inadequate food supply or extreme temperatures. The occurrence of resistant cysts in the vegetative stage depends, therefore, on such environmental factors as season, temperature, light, water, and nutrient supply. The fertilized egg, or zygote, in a number of algal groups may also pass into a dormant stage (a zygospore). Temporary or long-lasting cysts may occur among other protist species as well. Many sporozoa and members of other totally parasitic phyla form a highly resistant stage—for example, the oocyst of the coccidian parasites, which may survive for a long time in the fecal material of the host or in the soil. This cyst is the infective stage for the next host in the parasite’s life cycle.

Some life cycles involve not only multiple hosts but also a vector—a particular metazoan organism that can act as either an active or a passive carrier of the parasite to the next host. In malaria, for example, a mosquito is required to transfer the Plasmodium species to the next vertebrate host.