Question

Are protists asexual?

Answer 1

The term 'Protista' is derived from the Greek word 'protistas,' meaning 'the very first.' These organisms are usually unicellular, and the cells of these organisms contain a nucleus bound to the organelles. Some of them even have structures that support locomotives such as flagella or cilia.

Complete answer:
Scientists are speculating that protists form a link between plants, animals and fungi, as these three kingdoms diverged from a common protist-like ancestor billions of years ago. Although this "protist-like" ancestor is a hypothetical organism, some genes found in modern animals and plants can be traced back to these ancient organisms.

Protists are simple eukaryotic organisms that are neither plants, nor animals, nor fungi. Protists are unicellular in nature, but they can also be found as a cell colony. Most protists live in water, in damp terrestrial environments, or even as parasites.

The primary characteristic of all protists is that they are eukaryotic organisms. This means that they have a nucleus enclosed with a membrane. Other features of the Kingdom Protista are as follows:

- They are usually aquatic, present in soil or in areas with moisture
- Most protist species are unicellular organisms, but there are a few multicellular protists, such as kelp.
- Like any other eukaryotic, the cells of these species have a nucleus and membrane-bound organelles.
- They may be of an autotrophic or heterotrophic nature. An autotrophic organism can make and survive its own food. On the other hand, a heterotrophic organism must derive nutrition from other organisms, such as plants or animals, in order to survive.
- Symbiosis is seen in the members of this class. For example, kelp (seaweed) is a multicellular protist that protects otters from predators in the middle of a thick kelp. Otters, in turn, eat sea urchins that tend to feed on kelp.
- Parasitism is also seen in protists. Species such as trypanosoma protozoa may cause sleeping sickness in humans.
- The protists exhibit locomotives through cilia and flagella. Some of the organisms belonging to the Protista kingdom have pseudopodia that help them move.
- Protista reproduces through asexual means. The sexual method of reproduction is extremely rare and occurs only in times of stress.

Thus, protists are asexual.

Note: There are no equivalents in cladistic systems (classifications based on common ancestry) to the Protista or Protoctista taxa, as both terms refer to a paraphyletic group that spans the entire eukaryotic tree of life. In the cladistic classification, the contents of Protista are mostly distributed among different supergroups.