Parasitic Protozoa

Parasites are one of the five P¿s constituting ¿Name¿s Hangmen¿. Other four include Pathogens, Parasitoids, Pests and Predators. Parasitic diseases constitute a major public health problem all over the world with associated high degree mortality, morbidity and man-day loss. The Alveolata is a monophyletic group of eukaryotic protozoa that have adopted extremely diverse modes of nutrition, such as predation, photoautotrophy and intracellular parasitism. The Alveolata is one of the most biologically diverse supergroups of eukaryotic microorganisms, consisting of four well-defined and seemingly disparate phyla: Apicomplexa; Dinozoa (Protalveolata & Dinoflagellata); Ciliata and Chromeridawhich are united by molecular phylogeny and by the presence of cortical alveoli underlying their plasma membranes.In terms of phylogenetic relationships within the alveolates, small subunit (SSU) rRNA phylogenies have consistently shown that apicomplexans and dinoflagellates are more closely related to each other than either group is to ciliates. The Alveolata form a sister group to two major clades of photosynthetic eukaryotes, namely the Stramenopiles and Rhizarians forming SAR Supergroup.