In spite of their links to disease in mammals, it's not clear if these microbes help or harm their protist hosts. Context makes all the difference in these relationships, says Worden, noting that ...

One clear interpretation is that protists play an important role in regulating the overall bacterial abundance in seawater and that their removal relieves this control on bacterial proliferation.

Protists are a diverse collection of organisms that do not fit into animal, plant, bacteria or fungi groups. While exceptions exist, they are primarily microscopic and made up of a single cell ...

"By the 1960s it had become clear that these species could no longer fit within such a narrow system, yet the first community-wide attempt to rationally categorize all the protists in the natural ...

Tiny organisms called foraminifera can be incredibly useful for protecting coral reefs. Promovenda Elsa B. Girard developed a ...

However, the population of protists quickly collapsed in the second ... this defense is for stabilizing populations. It also became clear that it makes sense for the prey species not to rely ...

But the single-celled organisms known as protists are finally getting the starring role they deserve. Among the large cast of microbiome players, bacteria have long been hogging the spotlight.

Back in December, authorities learned that Naegleria fowleri — a deadly, brain-eating amoeba, pictured here — was living in Louisiana tapwater, infecting its victims' grey matter by way of neti pot.

But mounting evidence suggests that at least one group of organisms might nosh on nutrient-rich viruses: protists, microscopic and often single-celled organisms that scientists have struggled to ...

Protists are predators of bacteria, and they help shape soil communities by munching on bacteria (sorry, bacteria). Researchers knew that protists could identify prey when they were in direct contact ...

But a new study has shown, however, that there are unusual eukaryotes called oxymonads, which are single-celled protists that reside in the gut of insects and animals, that can survive with no ...