Organism that can use a mix of different sources of energy and carbon
A mixotroph is an organism that can use a mix of different sources of energy and carbon, instead of having a single trophic mode on the continuum from complete autotrophy at one end to heterotrophy at the other. It is estimated that mixotrophs comprise more than half of all microscopic plankton.[1] There are two types of eukaryotic mixotrophs: those with their own chloroplasts, and those with endosymbionts—and those that acquire them through kleptoplasty or through symbiotic associations with prey or enslavement of their organelles.[2]
Possible combinations are photo- and chemotrophy, litho- and organotrophy (osmotrophy, phagotrophy and myzocytosis), auto- and heterotrophy or other combinations of these. Mixotrophs can be either eukaryotic or prokaryotic.[3] They can take advantage of different environmental conditions.[4]
If a trophic mode is obligate, then it is always necessary for sustaining growth and maintenance; if facultative, it can be used as a supplemental source.[3] Some organisms have incomplete Calvin cycles, so they are incapable of fixing carbon dioxide and must use organic carbon sources.
^Beware the mixotrophs - they can destroy entire ecosystems 'in a matter of hours'
^[S. G. Leles et al, Oceanic protists with different forms of acquired phototrophy display contrasting biogeographies and abundance, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (2017).]
^ abEiler A (December 2006). "Evidence for the Ubiquity of Mixotrophic Bacteria in the Upper Ocean: Implications and Consequences". Appl Environ Microbiol. 72 (12): 7431–7. Bibcode:2006ApEnM..72.7431E. doi:10.1128/AEM.01559-06. PMC 1694265. PMID 17028233.
^Katechakis A, Stibor H (July 2006). "The mixotroph Ochromonas tuberculata may invade and suppress specialist phago- and phototroph plankton communities depending on nutrient conditions". Oecologia. 148 (4): 692–701. Bibcode:2006Oecol.148..692K. doi:10.1007/s00442-006-0413-4. PMID 16568278. S2CID 22837754.
A mixotroph is an organism that can use a mix of different sources of energy and carbon, instead of having a single trophic mode on the continuum from...
microplankton have indicated over half of microscopic plankton are mixotrophs. A mixotroph is an organism that can behave sometimes as though it were a plant...
It is estimated that mixotrophs comprise more than half of all microscopic plankton. There are two types of eukaryotic mixotrophs: those with their own...
groups or 'mixotypes' that present different biogeographies: Constitutive mixotrophs, also called 'phytoplankton that eat', have the innate ability to photosynthesize...
Euglena viridis is a freshwater, single cell, mixotroph microalgae bearing a secondary chloroplast. Their chloroplast is bounded by three layers of membrane...
"Microbiology of thiobacilli and other sulphur-oxidizing autotrophs, mixotrophs and heterotrophs". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of...
Omnivores (feed on a mixed diet of phyto- and zooplankton and detritus); and Mixotrophs which combine autotrophy (using light energy to grow without intake of...
While able to perform photosynthesis, many of these eukaryotic groups are mixotrophs and practice heterotrophy to various degrees. Early photosynthetic systems...
as carbon and energy source by other organisms (e.g. heterotrophs and mixotrophs). The photoautotrophs are the main primary producers, converting the energy...
be compatible not only with being an autotroph but also with life as a mixotroph or heterotroph. Weiss et al. 2018 reply that no enzyme defines a trophic...
Primary nutritional groups are groups of organisms, divided in relation to the nutrition mode according to the sources of energy and carbon, needed for...
British Columbia and described in 2012. Rapaza viridis is the first known mixotroph (an organism that combines photosynthesis and ingestion of food) and kleptoplastic...
single-celled alga in the genus Euglena. It has secondary chloroplasts, and is a mixotroph able to feed by photosynthesis or phagocytosis. It has a highly flexible...
many have photosynthetic endosymbionts and are, therefore, considered mixotrophs. The skeletal remains of some types of radiolarians make up a large part...
it matures within a host's red blood cell. Protozoa may also live as mixotrophs, combining a heterotrophic diet with some form of autotrophy. Some protozoa...
hydrogen. Mixotrophs (or facultative chemolithotroph) can use either carbon dioxide or organic carbon as the carbon source, meaning that mixotrophs have the...
reverse tricarboxylic acid cycle to perform carbon fixation. They are also mixotrophs and reduce nitrogen. Green sulfur bacteria are gram-negative rod or spherical...
are photosynthetically active, but are also heterotrophic. Facultative mixotrophs, in which autotrophy or heterotrophy is sufficient for nutrition, are...
heterotrophic, feeding on bacteria and other small organisms. A few species are mixotrophs, deriving some nutrients from endosymbiotic algae (chlorella) carried...
each other when growing conditions are poor. Mixotrophs are divided into two groups; constitutive mixotrophs, CMs, which are able to perform photosynthesis...
nutrients from the carbon of inorganic substances like carbon dioxide. Mixotrophs are organisms that can be heterotrophs and autotrophs, including some...
algae, Cymbomonas tetramitiformis in the order Pyramimonadales, is a mixotroph and able to support itself through both phagotrophy and phototrophy. It...
(Gammaproteobacteria) is a facultative R. pachyptila symbiont and has been shown to be a mixotroph, thereby exploiting both Calvin Benson cycle and reverse TCA cycle (with...
autotrophs, which obtain their sole source of carbon from the atmosphere, mixotrophs (such as carnivorous plants), which are autotrophic organisms that partially...
up" in dead organisms. Mixotrophic radiolarians Mixotrophs have no single trophic mode. A mixotroph is an organism that can use a mix of different sources...
to the bed of the water body to overwinter as a turion. The plant is a mixotroph which can produce its own energy by photosynthesis or absorb it from the...
dinoflagellates had been grouped into two categories, phagotrophs and phototrophs. Mixotrophs, however include a combination of phagotrophy and phototrophy. Mixotrophic...
Gaultheria procumbens, belongs to a different genus. Orthilia secunda is a mixotroph. It obtains about one half of its carbon from mycorrhizal networks. Mycorrhizal...
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