Nutrition in an Amoeba occurs through a process called phagocytosis where the entire organism pretty much engulfs the food it plans on eating up. The mode of nutrition in amoeba is known as holozoic nutrition. It involves the ingestion, digestion and egestion of food material.
Amoeba does not have any specialized organ for nutrition. Its entire process is carried through the body surface with the help of pseudopodia.
Explanation:
Holozoic nutrition is the process of nutrition that takes place in organisms which take solid or liquid food inside their body. Amoeba follows holozoic nutrition.
Holozoic nutrition in amoeba takes place in the following steps:
IngestionDigestionAbsorptionAssimilationEgestion
Ingestion
Ingestion is the process of taking in the food into the body either by swallowing or absorbing it. Amoeba pushes out the pseudopodia to encircle the food and engulfs it forming a food vacuole. This process is known as phagocytosis.
Digestion
Digestion is the process of breaking the insoluble and large food molecules into soluble and minute molecules. In amoeba, the food vacuoles are transported deeper into the cell and with the help of the digestive enzymes, the large insoluble particles are broken down to the simplest molecules.
Absorption
In this process of absorption, the nutrients from the digested food material are absorbed into the cell’s cytoplasm by leaving behind the undigested particles. This process is called diffusion. The excess food is stored in the form of glycogen and lipids.
Assimilation
Assimilation is the process of obtaining energy from the absorbed food molecules. In amoeba, absorbed food molecules are utilized for producing the energy required to carry out different life processes within the cell.
Egestion
Egestion is the process of excretion of undigested food material. In amoeba, this process is carried out by rupturing the cell membrane to remove the undigested food material from its body.
