Protists are a diverse, polyphyletic assemblage of predominantly unicellular eukaryotic organisms that do not fit within the traditional kingdoms of animals, plants, or fungi and are therefore used as a conceptual rather than taxonomic grouping in modern systematics. They exhibit a wide range of cellular organizations (from solitary to colonial and simple multicellular forms), nutritional strategies (photoautotrophy, heterotrophy, mixotrophy), and modes of locomotion (flagella, cilia, pseudopodia). As a topic in biology, “protists” encompasses key model systems for studying eukaryotic cell biology, endosymbiosis, genome evolution, and the ecological roles of microbial eukaryotes in aquatic and soil ecosystems.
A surprising observation in the lab has revealed a remarkable ability in Stentor coeruleus, a single-celled organism about one millimeter long. Sometimes nicknamed the "platypus" of microorganisms for its trumpet-like shape, ...
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 2, 2026
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Researchers from the Earlham Institute, in collaboration with the Department of Biology at the University of Oxford, have discovered three previously unrecognized lineages of the protist Bodo, each with its own bacterial ...
Cell & Microbiology
Mar 23, 2026
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Researchers at University of Tsukuba have identified a photophobic response (light avoidance) in the unicellular apusomonad Podomonas kaiyoae. The study provides critical insight into the evolution of complex flagellar and ...
Evolution
Feb 2, 2026
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An international team of researchers led by Hokkaido University has characterized the unique mechanics that enable Arcella, a shelled, single-celled amoeba, to move skillfully across different surfaces.
Cell & Microbiology
Jan 6, 2026
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Researchers at LMU in collaboration with the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg have discovered how the parasite Toxoplasma gondii builds a specialized structure that allows it to move and invade host ...
Cell & Microbiology
Dec 2, 2025
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A research team from the Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague has discovered Solarion arienae, an extremely rare and morphologically unique unicellular eukaryote that sheds new light on early eukaryotic evolution.
Evolution
Nov 19, 2025
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311
QUT researchers have recovered the genomes of more than 24,000 previously unknown microbial species—some from entirely new branches of life that likely evolved before plants and animals. The microbes are detailed in two studies ...
Cell & Microbiology
Nov 13, 2025
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Plankton are the invisible engines of life on Earth, producing much of the planet's oxygen and forming the foundation of the oceanic food chain. They are also incredibly diverse, with tens of thousands of species described ...
Cell & Microbiology
Oct 31, 2025
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Recent advances in long-read sequencing techniques have produced large amounts of high-quality rRNA marker gene data about eukaryotic organisms, but many of these taxa have remained unknown at the highest taxonomic levels: ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Oct 20, 2025
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