An eukaryote is an organism with a complex cell or cells, in which the genetic material is organized into a membrane-bound nucleus or nuclei. Eukaryotes comprise animals, plants, and fungi - which are mostly multicellular . Primitive eukaryotes are also important in medicine and veterinary science: some cause human and animal diseases such as giardia (hikers’ diarrhea) and trypanosomiasis (African sleeping sickness). Yet others live in symbiotic relationships with other organisms: the flagellate Streblomastix shown above lives in the intestines of termites, and it and several other protists assist in the digestion of wood.
This entry was posted
on Saturday, September 16th, 2006 at 1:37 am and is filed under Eukaryotes.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
