A cytostome (from cyto-, cell and stome-, mouth) or cell mouth is a part of a cell specialized for phagocytosis, usually in the form of a microtubule-supported funnel or groove. Food is directed into the cytostome, and sealed into vacuoles.
Only certain groups of protozoa, such as the Ciliophora and Excavata, have cytostomes.[1] An example is Balantidium coli, a ciliate. In other protozoa, and in cells from multicellular organisms, phagocytosis takes place at any point on the cell or feeding takes place by absorption.
^Allaby, Michael. A dictionary of zoology. Oxford University Press, 2003.
A cytostome (from cyto-, cell and stome-, mouth) or cell mouth is a part of a cell specialized for phagocytosis, usually in the form of a microtubule-supported...
cases a third axis can be defined, particularly where a non-terminal cytostome or other unique structure is present. Some elongated protists have distinctive...
arise from a basal body. In some flagellates, flagella direct food into a cytostome or mouth, where food is ingested. Flagella often support hairs, called...
do), taking in food through a specialized mouth-like aperture called a cytostome, or using stiffened ingestion organelles Parasitic protozoa use a wide...
Prey such as bacteria and smaller flagellates is ingested through a cytostome, supported by microtubules. These are often packed together to form two...
300 Ciliophora Cilia bearers Ciliates Presence of multiple cilia and a cytostome. approx. 4,500 Cryptista Hidden Defined by molecular phylogeny, flat cristae...
Trichodinids are round ciliates that may be disc-shaped or hemispherical. The cytostome (cell mouth) is on the surface that faces away from the host; this is...
aquatic animals, and typically feed on other ciliates. Instead of a single cytostome, each cell feeds by means of several specialized tentacles. These are...
of genus Giardia include cells with duplicate organelles, absence of cytostomes, and ventral adhesive disc. About 40 species have been described, but...
opening, known as the peristome, at the pointed anterior end leads to the cytostome, or the mouth. Cysts are smaller than trophozoites and are round and have...
groove or chamber in the cell where phagocytosis takes place, called the cytostome or mouth. As in phagocytic immune cells, the resulting phagosome may be...
single-celled protists with two anteriorly directed flagella, an anterior cytostome for ingesting eukaryotic prey, and a sheath that covers the cell membrane...
in an apical or subapical pocket. In some these are associated with a cytostome or mouth, used to ingest bacteria or other small organisms. This is supported...
allows them to create a current that captures small food particles. The cytostome is the specialized structure that allows the protists this function. This...
particles of scavenged material. Amoeboid cells do not have a mouth or cytostome, and there is no fixed place on the cell at which phagocytosis normally...
ovoided. It has a curved anterior apex that is over the peristome. It has a cytostome which is a two-layered undulating membrane, on the right front edge, and...
(gullet). From there, food particles pass through a small opening called the cytostome, or cell mouth, and move into the interior of the cell. As food enters...
endosymbiotically. Euglenoid This ciliate is digesting cyanobacteria. The cytostome or mouth is at the bottom right. In contrast to the cells of prokaryotes...
although two species have been found to divide as an exception. There is no cytostome (feeding groove) present suggesting that feeding occurs primarily in the...
palisade of stiff microtubular rods (nematodesmata). This cone encloses the cytostome, or "mouth" opening, as in other haptorian ciliates. The dimensions of...
a white blood cell, measuring 9 × 7 μm. Five flagella arise near the cytostome; four of these immediately extend outside the cell together, while the...
be restricted to part of the cell surface, but there is never a true cytostome or mouth as found in many other protozoa. They show a variety of forms...
pretransverse and transverse cirri. The region around the cell mouth (cytostome) is partially encircled by a series of compound cilia which make up the...
ingestion. There are oral cilia specialized for making water currents, cytostomes in a depression on the cell surface and structures for scraping and filtering...
inside endosymbiotically This ciliate is digesting cyanobacteria. The cytostome or mouth is at the bottom right. Ciliate ingesting a diatom Amoeba engulfing...
found in a specialised pocket structure which is also the location of the cytostome.[citation needed] Kinetoplastids may be free-living or parasitic. The...
1 to 12 structures on their membrane known as amoebastomes (amorphous cytostomes), also referred to as "suckers" or "food cups," which they use for feeding...
Global Information