Question

A certain eukaryote lives as a unicellular organism, but during environmental stress, it produces gametes. The gametes fuse, and the resulting zygote undergoes meiosis, generating new single cells. What type of organism could this be?

Short answer

There are some eukaryotes that are made up of a single cell. This could be a fungus, protist, and alga. Some of the algae are unicellular such as Spirulina. Protists are formed of a single cell and are placed in eukaryotes.

The connecting link between the animals and plants is protist. Yeast is a kind of fungus that is a unicellular eukaryote.

Step-by-step solution

Features of eukaryotes

Eukaryotic living beings have a defined nucleus. The true nuclear membrane is present in the eukaryotes. Some of the examples of eukaryotic living beings are fungi, fishes, gymnosperms, and mammals.

The chromosomal material is found inside the nuclear membrane.

Unicellular living beings

Unicellular living beings have a single cell. Prokaryotes are mostly unicellular, while some of the eukaryotes have unicellular cells. Examples of one-celled living beings are bacteria and protists.

Unicellular living beings have a simple life cycle, the cell divides by the cell division, and two daughter cells are formed.

Formation of the zygote

Unicellular eukaryotes produce gametes in their life cycle; these are haploid in nature.Two gametes of opposite sex fuse to form a diploid body; this is called a zygote.

In unicellular eukaryotes, the zygote forms the unicellular cells, which have a diploid set of chromosomes.