Knowra Amoeba Amoeba An amoeba is a unicellular eukaryote that typically changes shape and moves by extending temporary cell projections called pseudopodia. Many amoebas engulf food particles.
Pseudopodia : Temporary cell projections used by some cells for movement, attachment, or engulfing material. Amoebas extend these projections to move and capture food.
Eukaryote : An organism whose cells contain a nucleus and other membrane-bound compartments. Amoebas are eukaryotes, unlike bacteria and archaea.
Entamoeba histolytica : A parasitic amoeboid protist that causes amoebiasis in humans. This disease-causing relative shows that amoeboid organisms include important parasites.
Ciliate : A protist that moves or feeds using numerous short, coordinated cilia. Ciliates use beating surface structures rather than extending pseudopodia for locomotion.
Phagocytosis : A process in which a cell engulfs particles by enclosing them in its membrane. Amoebas commonly take in food by surrounding it with pseudopodia.
Unicellular organism : An organism consisting of a single cell that performs all essential life functions. An amoeba carries out its life processes within one cell.
Acanthamoeba : A genus of free-living amoebae that can cause rare infections in humans. Some species cause keratitis and, less often, severe infections of the central nervous system.
Flagellate : An organism or cell that moves using one or more whip-like flagella. Flagellar propulsion contrasts with the shifting cell extensions typical of amoebas.
Actin : A protein that forms filaments involved in cell shape, movement, and internal organization. Actin rearrangement helps drive the shape changes behind amoeboid movement.
Protist : A broad grouping of eukaryotes that are not classified as animals, plants, or fungi. Many amoebas are discussed among protists, though the group is not a single lineage.
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