Amoebas and many other protists eat by engulfing smaller organisms or food particles, a process called phagocytosis (from the Greek phagein, to eat, and kytos, vessel, referring here to the cell). The food vacuole formed in this way then fuses with a lysosome, whose enzymes digest the food (Figure 6.13a, bottom). Digestion products, including simple sugars, amino acids, and other monomers, pass into the cytosol and become nutrients for the cell.
