Directions: Complete BOTH Part A and Part B of this discussion.

Part A: In this section of the discussion board, you will begin to investigate the diversity of life in viruses, protists, and fungi. Respond to BOTH Part 1 and Part 2.

Part I: Viruses – Is a virus a cell? Is it living? Of what components is a virus composed? Viruses are thought to “hijack” the cellular machinery of their prey. What is the goal of this action?

Part II: Protists – You will find that there is a lot of diversity within this group of organisms. There are protists that are heterotrophs and protists that are autotrophs, unicellular and multicellular, one type that has glass which impregnates their cell walls, to name a few. For your work on this topic, please select a unique Protist and describe some features of the organism you select (2-3 features that are unique to this organism). An example of a poor descriptive feature would be that the organism is a eukaryote, because that is true of all protists.).

Part B: For the second portion of this discussion board, you can do one of three things.

1. You can discuss a (unique) role of fungi in society and nature OR
2. Choose one group of fungi and discuss what makes them unique OR
3. Discuss one way fungi interact with another organism in a parasitic or mutualistic way.

Select your topic and start a thread with what you would like to research prior to your work and then add to your thread once you have completed the work. Contribute in a way that is unique to the classmates who post before you on the board, and the best way to do that is to:

1. Select your topic of interest and
2. Research and post your work.

You can use CH 22 in your text to help you compose your work on this topic or any other credible scientific source