Pseudopods or pseudopodia (singular: pseudopodium) (from the Greek word ψευδοπόδια, ψευδός "fake, false" + πόδια "feet") are temporary projections of eukaryotic cells. Cells that possess this faculty are generally referred to as amoeboids. Pseudopodia extend and contract by the reversible assembly of actin subunits into microfilaments. Filaments near the cell's end interact with myosin which causes contraction. The pseudopodium extends itself until the actin reassembles itself into a network. This is how amoebas move, as well as some cells found in animals, such as white blood cells. They are most commonly found on eubacteria.
Read more about Pseudopodia: Reproduction, Morphology
Other articles related to "pseudopodia":
... They usually produce numerous clear projections called subpseudopodia (or determinate pseudopodia), which have a defined length and are not directly involved in locomotion ... may form multiple indeterminate pseudopodia, which are more or less tubular and are mostly filled with granular endoplasm ... together, as in Difflugia, with a single opening through which the pseudopodia emerge ...
... of melanocyte, the cell can extend its surface as long pseudopodia, carrying melanosomes away from the center of the cell and increasing the cell's effectiveness in ... This donation comes about because some keratinocytes may engulf the end of the melanocyte pseudopodia, which contain many melanosomes ...
... These finger-like, tubular pseudopodia contain both ectoplasm and endoplasm ... Principally, these pseudopodia are food collecting structures ...
... It can form arm- like structures called pseudopodia, extending from any part of its body as it is shapeless ... When it senses food in its surroundings it extends its pseudopodia in that direction and moves towards it ... Then it engulfs the food with its pseudopodia ...
Famous quotes containing the word pseudopodia:
“The will to power can express itself only against resistances; it seeks that which resists it—this is the native tendency of the amoeba when it extends its pseudopodia and gropes around.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)