Acta Protozoologica最新文献

Molecular phylogenies of Oligotrichea currently do not contain all genera and families and display topologies which are often incongruent with morphological findings. In ciliates, the somatic kinetids are rather conserved, i.e., their ultrastructures, particularly the fibrillar associates, often characterise the main groups, except for the choreotrichids. Four different kinetid types are found in protargol-stained choreotrichids and used for reconstructing the taxon's evolution (the "Kinetid Transformation Hypothesis"). Proof for this hypothesis requires transmission electron microscopic studies, which are very rare in the choreotrichids and oligotrichids. Such an approach provides insights into the ultrastructural variability of somatic kinetids in spirotrichs and may also detect apomorphies characterising certain choreotrichid families. In the model tintinnid Schmidingerella meunieri, the ultrastructure of the three kinetid types in the somatic ciliature is studied in cryofixed cells. The data support the "Kinetid Transformation Hypothesis" regarding tintinnids with a ventral kinety. This first detailed study on kinetids in tintinnids and choreotrichids in general reveals totally new kinetid types in ciliates: beyond the three common associates, they are characterised by two or three conspicuous microtubular ribbons extending on the kinetids' left sides. These extraordinary ribbons form together with the overlapping postciliary ribbons a unique network in the cortex of the anterior cell portion. The evolutionary constrains which might have fostered the development of such structures are discussed for the Oligotrichea, the choreotrichids, and tintinnids as their first occurrence is currently uncertain. Additionally, the kinetids in tintinnids, aloricate choreotrichids, oligotrichids, hypotrichs, and euplotids are compared.

We isolated an encysted ciliate from a geothermal field in Iceland. The morphological features of this isolate fit the descriptions of Dexiotricha colpidiopsis Kahl, 1926) Jankowski, 1964 very well. These comprise body shape and size in vivo, the number of somatic kineties, and the positions of macronucleus and contractile vacuole. Using state-of-the-art taxonomic methods, the species is redescribed, including phylogenetic analyses of the small subunit ribosomal RNA (SSU rRNA) gene as molecular marker. In the phylogenetic analyses, D. colpidiopsis clusters with the three available SSU rRNA gene sequences of congeners, suggesting a monophyly of the genus Dexiotricha. Its closest relative in phylogenetic analyses is D. elliptica, which also shows a high morphological similarity. This is the first record of a Dexiotricha species from a hot spring, indicating a wide temperature tolerance of this species at least in the encysted state. The new findings on D. colpidiopsis are included in a briefly revision of the scuticociliate genus Dexiotricha and an identification key to the species.

The first transmission and scanning electron microscopical studies in combination with freeze-fracture technology have disclosed some important morphological and ultrastructural features in the freshwater oligotrichid Limnostrombidium viride. (I) The dikinetids (paired basal bodies) of the girdle kinety have a club-shaped cilium associated only with each left basal body. The electron-dense (paraflagellar) body on one side of its "9×2+2"-axoneme and the regular array of intramembranous particles indicate a sensory, perhaps photoreceptor function of these club-shaped cilia. (II) The stichomonad endoral membrane is proximally covered by a cytoplasmic fold and distally by multiple membranous layers. Thus entirely covered, the endoral is probably no longer involved in food capture; nonetheless, its associated microtubules might stabilise the cytopharynx. (III) Instead of a contractile vacuole, a horizontal ring-canal with supposed osmoregulatory function occurs. (IV) The extrusive nature of the trichites is not only observed in electron micrographs, but the attachment sites of these organelles also display a rosette of "8+1"-particles in the P-face of freeze-fracture replicas typical for ciliate extrusomes. (V) The neoformation organelle, the subsurface tube in which stomatogenesis takes place, shows short basal bodies and normal axonemes about 1 μm long. It is accompanied by numerous membrane vesicles, which might provide membrane material for the outgrowing cilia.