apicomplexan

Scientific  

/ ăp′ĭ-kəm-plĕk′sən /

1. Any of a phylum (Apicomplexa) of protozoans that are parasitic in animals, especially animal bloodstreams, and are distinguished by a variety of organelles, including fibrils and microtubules, located at one end (called the apical end) of the cell. These organelles help the apicomplexan invade an animal cell. Apicomplexans form spores and reproduce sexually in an alternation of generations; many have complex life cycles and are transmitted to animals hosts by bloodsucking insects. Apicomplexans include the organisms that were once classified as sporozoans, including the protozoans that cause malaria and toxoplasmosis.

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Example Sentences

Electron microscopy showed that the ARL-V/type-N cells have many features typical of apicomplexan cells.

From Nature

Many apicomplexan parasites live in the dark, but they contain the vestige of a plastid6, a DNA-containing structure found in plant and algal cells that is required for photosynthesis.

From Nature

Apicomplexan plastids are non-photosynthetic, but they have retained some biochemical pathways that are found alongside the light-processing pathways in photosynthetic plastids.

From Nature

Shared elements of host-targeting pathways among apicomplexan parasites of differing lifestyles.

From Nature

They sort of look like torpedoes: Structure of a generalised apicomplexan in its invasion form.

From Scientific American