What are the defining features of stramenopiles?

Stramenopiles. Stramenopiles (also known as heterokonts) usually have a flagellate stage in the life cycle that has a characteristic type of stiff tubular ‘hairs’ arranged in two rows on one flagellum (see Patterson, 1999). These flagellates swim in the direction the hair-bearing flagellum is pointing.

Are green algae stramenopiles?

Stramenopiles include a particularly wide variety of algae with chlorophyll c-containing complex plastids (see above), which are often now known as ochrophytes. There are also some important fungal-like groups among the heterotrophic stramenopiles.

Which class is also known as Heterokont?

Heterokonts are a group of protists (formally referred to as Heterokonta, Heterokontae or Heterokontophyta). Other notable members of the Stramenopiles include the (generally) parasitic oomycetes, including Phytophthora, which caused the Great Famine of Ireland, and Pythium, which causes seed rot and damping off.

What makes stramenopiles unique?

Their characteristic gold color results from their extensive use of carotenoids, a group of photosynthetic pigments that are generally yellow or orange in color. Golden algae are found in both freshwater and marine environments, where they form a major part of the plankton community.

What are examples of diatoms?

Examples: Tabellaria, Amphipleura. Characteristics: Golden-brown colour from fucoxanthin masking chlorophylls a and c; beta-carotene; various xanthophylls and oils. Each cell is enclosed in a unique type of siliceous cell wall which takes the form of a box with an overlapping lid.

What are the characteristics of diatoms?

Diatoms have two distinct shapes: a few (centric diatoms) are radially symmetric, while most (pennate diatoms) are broadly bilaterally symmetric. A unique feature of diatom anatomy is that they are surrounded by a cell wall made of silica (hydrated silicon dioxide), called a frustule.

What is the difference between diatoms and golden algae?

Diatoms are unicellular algae with a hard silica cell wall called a frustule. Other unicellular stramenopiles include the golden algae, a group of mostly freshwater algae that have been accused of poisoning fish. Brown algae, multicellular algae, can grow up to 200 feet long.

Why do diatoms have pores?

The frustule also contains many pores and slits that provide the diatom access to the external environment for processes such as waste removal and mucilage secretion. The microstructural analysis of the frustules shows that the pores are of various sizes, shapes and volume.

What are diatoms classified?

Diatoms are formally classified as belonging to the Division Chrysophyta, Class Bacillariophyceae. The Chrysophyta are algae which form endoplasmic cysts, store oils rather than starch, possess a bipartite cell wall and secrete silica at some stage of their life cycle.

Why are diatoms so important?

Diatoms are unicellular eukaryotic microalgae that play important ecological roles on a global scale. Diatoms are responsible for 20% of global carbon fixation and 40% of marine primary productivity. Thus they are major contributors to climate change processes, and form a substantial basis of the marine food web.

How do you classify diatoms?

What are the two types of diatoms?

Diatoms are divided into two groups that are distinguished by the shape of the frustule: the centric diatoms and the pennate diatoms.

Are there any other unicellular Stramenopiles Besides diatoms?

Other unicellular stramenopiles include the golden algae, a group of mostly freshwater algae that have been accused of poisoning fish. Although they are only made of a single cell, both diatoms and golden algae can form massive ribbons and blooms composed of thousands of individual cells together.

Which is the most common type of stramenopile?

Of the roughly 100,000 species of stramenopiles, most are algae. Some are very small, such as diatoms, the main components of plankton. Diatoms are unicellular algae with a hard silica cell wall called a frustule. Other unicellular stramenopiles include the golden algae, a group of mostly freshwater algae that have been accused of poisoning fish.

How are diatoms classified as plants or animals?

Although they grow as single cells, they can also form filaments or simple colonies in a group. As algae, diatoms are protists. This means that they are eukaryotic organisms that are not specifically defined as plants, animals or fungus. Formally, they are classified under Division Chrysophyta in Class Bacillariophyceae.

How are stramenophiles different from other Chromalveolata?

Key Points. Stramenophiles, also referred to as heterokonts, are a subclass of chromalveolata, and are identified by the presence of a “hairy” flagellum. Diatoms, present in both freshwater and marine plankton, are unicellular photosynthetic protists that are characterized by the presence of a cell wall composed of silicon dioxide…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRj9NafEshQ