Blastocystis


Blastocystis

(blas'tō-sis'tis), A genus of yeastlike parasites in the digestive tract of mammals; generally considered nonpathogenic. Its relationship to fungi is now being questioned owing to protozoan characteristics, such as lack of cell walls, a membrane-bound central body, pseudopod activity, protozoan type of Golgi apparatus and mitochondria, and reproduction by sporulation or binary fission rather than by budding.