resorboida

Resorboida is a term used in biology to describe cells, tissues, or organisms that obtain nutrients primarily by resorbing substances from their surroundings. The word derives from Latin resorbere, to absorb back, and the suffix -oida, meaning resembling. The usage of resorboida is not standardized, and it is not a formal taxonomic group; rather, it denotes a feeding or nutrient-uptake strategy observed in diverse contexts.

In fungi, some saprotrophic or parasitic forms exhibit resorboid feeding structures that secrete extracellular enzymes to breakdown organic matter and then absorb the resulting monomers. In protozoa and other unicellular eukaryotes, resorboid modes describe cells that take up dissolved nutrients by endocytosis or receptor-mediated transport, rather than relying on external digestion alone. In plants and tissues, resorption is also a common term for the retrieval of nutrients from aging or senescing tissues, though this is typically discussed separately from cellular resorboidy.

Mechanisms commonly associated with resorboid nutrition include extracellular enzymatic degradation of polymers, uptake of monomers across membranes by transporters, and intracellular processing within vacuoles or lysosome-like compartments. The term is most often used descriptively—when a researcher observes a tissue or organism that appears to absorb material from its surroundings without phagocytosis of whole particles.

See also: resorption, phagocytosis, saprotrophy, endocytosis.