1.2 Describe the Common Features Shown by Eukaryotic Organisms: Plants, Animals, Fungi & Protoctists

1.2 Describe the Common Features Shown by Eukaryotic Organisms: Plants, Animals, Fungi & Protoctists

Plants:

• Multicellular organisms.
• Cells contain chloroplasts and are able to carry out photosynthesis.
• Cells have cellulose cell walls & store carbohydrates as starch or glucose.

Animals:

• Multicellular organisms.
• Cells do not contain chloroplasts and are not able to carry out photosynthesis.
• Cells have no cell walls.
• They usually have nervous co-ordination and are able to move from one place to another.
• Often store carbohydrates as glycogen.
• e.g. mammals (humans) and insects (housefly and mosquito).

Fungi:

• Organisms that are unable to carry out photosynthesis.
• Body is usually organised into a mycelium made from thread-like structures called hyphae, which contain many nuclei.
• Some examples are single-celled.
• Their cells have walls made of chitin.
• They feed by extracellular secretion of digestive enzymes onto food material and absorption of the organic products - this is known as saprotrophic nutrition.
• They may store carbohydrates as glycogen.
• e.g. Mucor:
• has the typical fungal hyphal structure, and yeast, which is single-celled.

Protoctists (protozoa):

• Microscopic single-celled organisms.
• Some like Amoeba (that live in pond water) have features like an animal cell.
• Others, like Chlorella have chloroplasts and are more like plants.
• A pathogenic example is Plasmodium, responsible for causing Malaria.