DOCSLIB.ORG

Investigations of the Life Cycle of the Peritrich Ciliate Zoothamnium Intermedium in Chesapeake Bay

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Investigations of the Life Cycle of the Peritrich Ciliate Zoothamnium Intermedium in Chesapeake Bay W&M ScholarWorks Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 2013 Investigations of the Life Cycle of the Peritrich Ciliate Zoothamnium intermedium in Chesapeake Bay Sikai Peng College of William and Mary - Virginia Institute of Marine Science Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd Part of the Marine Biology Commons, and the Oceanography Commons Recommended Citation Peng, Sikai, "Investigations of the Life Cycle of the Peritrich Ciliate Zoothamnium intermedium in Chesapeake Bay" (2013). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. Paper 1539617939. https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.25773/v5-7ka7-3t02 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Investigations of the Life Cycle of the Peritrich CiliateZoothamnium intermedium in Chesapeake Bay A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the School of Marine Science The College of William and Mary in Virginia In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science by Sikai Peng 2013 APPROVAL SHEET This thesis is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science Sikai Peng Approved, by the Committee, November 2013 Ryan B. Carnegie, Ph.D. Committee Chairman/Advisor Kam Wryfang, Ph.D. Co/Advisor Eric J. Hjilton, Ph.D. Hamish J. Small, Ph.D. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.......................................... iv LIST OF TABLES..................................................................................................................vi LIST OF FIGURES......................... vii ABSTRACT............................................................................................................................viii INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................2 MATERIALS AND METHODS............... 9 RESULTS.............................................. 17 DISCUSSION.................................................................................. 21 SUMMARY.............................................................................................................. 26 FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS.................................................................................27 GLOSSARY...................................................................................... 47 LITERATURE CITED................................................................................................. 48 VITA.......................................................................................................................................... 54 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The support and guidance provided by my advisor Dr. Ryan Carnegie and co-advisor Dr. Kam Tang throughout the course of this research are gratefully acknowledged. Successful completion of this project would not have been possible without their patience, motivation, enthusiasm, and immense knowledge. I also wish to thank my other advisory committee members, Dr. Eric Hilton and Dr. Hamish Small for guidance, constructive suggestions, helpful advice and encouragement to pursue this research, and I’d like to thank Dr. Jeffrey D Shields for his advice and help with microscopy. The following people are also gratefully acknowledged: My laboratory colleagues: Nancy Stokes, Rita Crockett, Katherine Blackshear, Miyoung Cho, Lydia Bienlien, Samantha Bickel, Haley Garrison, Jami Ivory, and Yuan Dong for their help at work and friendship in my life. My officemates: Ann Arfken, Jessica Lisa, Haley Garrison, Jami Ivory and Lucia Safi, for the happy memories, everyday joy and care in the office and for their friendship. My “New Kids” classmates: Michel Nalovic, Daniel Kaufman, Haley Garrison, Mark Stratton, Lela Schlenker, Anna Mosby, Carissa Gervasi, Miram Gleiber, Patricia O'Leary, Britt Dean, Solomon Chak, Zhengui Wang, and Xiaoteng Shen for their friendship, help and the good times we shared. My friends: Brandon Conroy, Jenna Luek, Kattie McMillan, Joshua Stone, Kate Ruck, Sean Charles, Brendan Turley, Alexander Renaud, Jeanna Hudson, Wes Hudson, Ryan Schloesser, Matthew Freedman, Alison Deary, Julia Moriarty, Cassandra Glaspie, Emily Egginton, Emily French, Randy Jones, AJ Johnson, Michael Kuschner, Hadley Mcintosh, Anna Murphy, Lauren Nys, Kristen Omori, Itchika Sivaipram, and Amy Then for their friendship and the beauty and joy they added to my life here. Dr. John E Graves, Dr. Deborah Steinberg, Dr. Robert Latour, Dr. Stephen Kaattari, Dr. Wolfgang Vogelbein, and Dr. Robert Hale for the knowledge and help in and out of the classroom. Joe Cope for his help with the identification of copepods. William Jones and Patrice Mason for their help with microscopy. Dr. Laura R.P. Utz for her help with my research. Corinne Audemard, Mary Ann Vogelbein, registrar Jennifer Hay, and housekeeper Phyllis Spriggs for their help and kindness. Alison Deary and Leah Fitchett for their help with field collections and sample analysis. My fellow Chinese students: Zhengui Wang, Linmei She, Xiaoteng Shen, Solomon Chak, Belinda Leong, Xiao Liu, Yi-Cheng Teng, Yongjin Xiao, Luyao Peng, Qubin Qin, Jincheng Wang, Chia-Yu Wu, Tianwu Huang, Zhuo Liu, Bin Nie, Junpeng Zhao, Fei Ye, Yang Feng, Xiaoyu Xu, Jie Gao, Jiabi Du, Xin Yu, Haixing Wang, Hongzhou Xu, Bo Hong, Ya Wang, Huiru Li, Jinfeng Zhang, and Dean Wu for the friendship, help, laughter and happiness. My parents, brother and other family members for their love and support. This work was supported by Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) and a grant from SunTrust Fellowship. LIST OF TABLES Page 1. Morphological comparison of live specimens Zoothamniumof sp. on different copepod hosts....................................................................................................................... 28 2. Different sites between rDNA sequences obtained from Zoothamnium intermedium on Acartia tonsa and Pseudodiaptomus pelagicus.............. 29 3. Prevalence and load of epibiont Zoothamnium intermedium on copepods in York River ........................................................................................................ 30 4. DNA extraction and PCR results for water samples....................................... 31 5. DNA extraction and PCR results for sediment samples.................................................. 32 6. Attachment ofZoothamnium intermedium telotrochs to potential copepod hosts........33 7. Attachment prevalence and attachment success for different copepod groups.............37 LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure Captions.......................... 38 1. Copepod, water and sediment sampling location.................................... 39 2. Primers design for SSU and ITS sequencing and specific PCR assays of Zoothamnium intermedium.................................................................................................40 3. Zoothamnium intermedium onAcartia tonsa.............................................................. .41 4. Parsimony bootstrap tree of peritrich ciliate SSU rDNA sequences...........................42 5. Zoothamnium intermedium loads on different sizes.of Acartia tonsa...........................43 6. Zoothamnium intermedium loads on different sizes ofPseudodiaptomus pelagicus..................................................... 44 7. Encystment ofZoothamnium intermedium telotroch fromPseudodiaptomus pelagicus............................................................................................................................... 45 ABSTRACT Epibiosis is a common phenomenon in aquatic environments. The chitinous exoskeletons of crustaceans provide stable surfaces for attachment and growth of epibiotic microorganisms. Epibiont ciliate colonization on copepods is commonly recorded but has rarely been studied in Chesapeake Bay; also, little is known about the life cycles of epibiont ciliates in the bay. The present work focuses on the life cycle ofZoothamnium intermedium in Chesapeake Bay. A peritrich ciliate belonging to the genus Zoothamnium was found as an epibiont on the calanoid copepodsAcartia tonsa and Pseudodiaptomus pelagicus during the summer in the York River, a tributary of the lower Chesapeake Bay. By using primers conservative for the genus Zoothamnium, two almost identical (99.8% similarity) 2171-bp ribosomal DNA (rDNA) sequences containing the complete small subunit (SSU) and partial internal transcribed spacer (ITS) rDNA regions were obtained from epibiont ciliates on the two hosts, indicating that they were the same ciliate species. Based on phylogenetic analysis and morphological characteristics, the epibiont was presumptively identified as Z. intermedium. In winter, Z. intermedium was only found onP. pelagicus, never on A. tonsa orA. clausi. The continuous presence ofZ. intermedium on P. pelagicus during the winter suggests that it used P. pelagicus as its primary host for overwintering. PCR assays specific to Z intermedium were designed to detect this ciliate in the environment. Positive PCR results were obtained from some sediment samples, potentially implicating the existence of a benthic cyst stage as another possible overwintering strategy. In the laboratory, formation of cyst-like cells from detached zooids was observed at 5°C. In detachment-recolonization
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Novel Contributions to the Peritrich Family Vaginicolidae
    applyparastyle “fig//caption/p[1]” parastyle “FigCapt” Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2019, 187, 1–30. With 13 figures. Novel contributions to the peritrich family Vaginicolidae (Protista: Ciliophora), with morphological and Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/article-abstract/187/1/1/5434147/ by Ocean University of China user on 08 October 2019 phylogenetic analyses of poorly known species of Pyxicola, Cothurnia and Vaginicola BORONG LU1, LIFANG LI2, XIAOZHONG HU1,5,*, DAODE JI3,*, KHALED A. S. AL-RASHEID4 and WEIBO SONG1,5 1Institute of Evolution and Marine Biodiversity, & Key Laboratory of Mariculture, Ministry of Education, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China 2Marine College, Shandong University, Weihai 264209, China 3School of Ocean, Yantai University, Yantai 264005, China 4Zoology Department, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia 5Laboratory for Marine Biology and Biotechnology, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao 266237, China Received 29 September 2018; revised 26 December 2018; accepted for publication 13 February 2019 The classification of loricate peritrich ciliates is difficult because of an accumulation of several taxonomic problems. In the present work, three poorly described vaginicolids, Pyxicola pusilla, Cothurnia ceramicola and Vaginicola tincta, were isolated from the surface of two freshwater/marine algae in China. In our study, the ciliature of Pyxicola and Vaginicola is revealed for the first time, demonstrating the taxonomic value of infundibular polykineties. The small subunit rDNA, ITS1-5.8S rDNA-ITS2 region and large subunit rDNA of the above species were sequenced for the first time. Phylogenetic analyses based on these genes indicated that Pyxicola and Cothurnia are closely related.
    [Show full text]
  • Ciliate-Zooplankton Epibiosis in Lake St Lucia
    Ciliate-zooplankton epibiosis in Lake St Lucia Salome Jones Submitted in fulfilment of the academic requirements for the degree of PhD in the School of Life Sciences College of Agriculture, Engineering and Science University of KwaZulu-Natal: Westville Campus Durban South Africa March 2018 ABSTRACT Epibiosis is a symbiotic association of two organisms in which one species (epibiont) uses the surface of another species (basibiont or host) as an attachment substrate. An increasing number of studies are revealing that epibionts have mainly deleterious effects on crustacean meso- zooplankton (hereafter referred to simply as zooplankton) hosts. In spite of its widespread occurrence, there are very few studies in Africa that address epibiosis in the aquatic environment, particularly involving zooplankton as hosts. Epibiotic ciliates are often found attached to zooplankton in the St Lucia Estuary, in northan KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. St Lucia is the largest estuarine lake in Africa and is globally recognized for its ecological importance. A study was conducted in St Lucia between 2015 and 2017, with the aim of determining: the identity of the epibiotic ciliates; their species-specific association with the zooplankton of St Lucia; the effects they have on their hosts and the environmental conditions that promote their proliferation. Based on live observations and images obtained from protargol staining and scanning electron microscopy, the epibiotic ciliates in the St Lucia Estuary were identified as the peritrich sessilid Epistylis sp. (Chapter 1). The results of the experimental study in Chapter 2 were that Epistylis sp. is species-specific, attaching only to the dominant calanoid copepod Pseudodiaptomus stuhlmanni (mainly adults) and that this relationship is host density dependent.
    [Show full text]
  • Ciliate Diversity, Community Structure, and Novel Taxa in Lakes of the Mcmurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica
    Reference: Biol. Bull. 227: 175–190. (October 2014) © 2014 Marine Biological Laboratory Ciliate Diversity, Community Structure, and Novel Taxa in Lakes of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica YUAN XU1,*†, TRISTA VICK-MAJORS2, RACHAEL MORGAN-KISS3, JOHN C. PRISCU2, AND LINDA AMARAL-ZETTLER4,5,*࿣ 1Laboratory of Protozoology, Institute of Evolution & Marine Biodiversity, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China; 2Montana State University, Department of Land Resources and Environmental Sciences, 334 Leon Johnson Hall, Bozeman, Montana 59717; 3Department of Microbiology, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio 45056; 4The Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543; and 5Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912 Abstract. We report an in-depth survey of next-genera- trends in dissolved oxygen concentration and salinity may tion DNA sequencing of ciliate diversity and community play a critical role in structuring ciliate communities. A structure in two permanently ice-covered McMurdo Dry PCR-based strategy capitalizing on divergent eukaryotic V9 Valley lakes during the austral summer and autumn (No- hypervariable region ribosomal RNA gene targets unveiled vember 2007 and March 2008). We tested hypotheses on the two new genera in these lakes. A novel taxon belonging to relationship between species richness and environmental an unknown class most closely related to Cryptocaryon conditions
    [Show full text]
  • Symbionts and Diseases Associated with Invasive Apple Snails
    Symbionts and diseases associated with invasive apple snails Cristina Damborenea, Francisco Brusa and Lisandro Negrete CONICET, División Zoología Invertebrados, Museo de La Plata (FCNyM-UNLP), Paseo del Bosque, 1900 La Plata, Argentina. Email: [email protected], fbrusa@ fcnym.unlp.edu.ar, [email protected] Abstract This contribution summarizes knowledge of organisms associated with apple snails, mainly Pomacea spp., either in a facultative or obligate manner, paying special attention to diseases transmitted via these snails to humans. A wide spectrum of epibionts on the shell and operculum of snails are discussed. Among them algae, ciliates, rotifers, nematodes, flatworms, oligochaetes, dipterans, bryozoans and leeches are facultative, benefitting from the provision of substrate, transport, access to food and protection. Among obligate symbionts, five turbellarian species of the genusTemnocephala are known from the branchial cavity, with T. iheringi the most common and abundant. The leech Helobdella ampullariae also spends its entire life cycle inside the branchial cavity; two copepod species and one mite are found in different sites inside the snails. Details of the nature of the relationships of these specific obligate symbionts are poorly known. Also, extensive studies of an intracellular endosymbiosis are summarized. Apple snails are the first or second hosts of several digenean species, including some bird parasites.A number of human diseases are transmitted by apple snails, angiostrongyliasis being the most important because of the potential seriousness of the disease. Additional keywords: Ampullariidae, Angiostrongylus, commensals, diseases, epibionts, parasites, Pomacea, symbiosis 73 Introduction The term “apple snail” refers to a number of species of freshwater snails belonging to the family Ampullariidae (Caenogastropoda) inhabiting tropical and subtropical regions (Hayes et al., 2015).
    [Show full text]
  • Annual Report
    Darwin Initiative Annual Report Important note: To be completed with reference to the Reporting Guidance Notes for Project Leaders – it is expected that this report will be about 10 pages in length, excluding annexes Submission deadline 30 April 2009 Darwin Project Information Project Ref Number 14-015 Project Title Conservation of Jiaozhou Bay: biodiversity assessment and biomonitoring using ciliates Country(ies) China UK Contract Holder Institution The Natural History Museum Host country Partner Institution(s) Ocean University of China Other Partner Institution(s) n/a Darwin Grant Value £137,897 Start/End dates of Project 1/11/05 – 30/09/09 Reporting period (1 Apr 200x to 1 Apr 2008 to 31 Mar 2009 31 Mar 200y) and annual report number (1,2,3..) Annual report no. 4 Project Leader Name Dr Alan Warren Project website Author(s) and main contributors, Dr Alan Warren (NHM); Professor Weibo Song (OUC); date Professor Xiaozhong Hu (OUC) 27 April 2009 1. Project Background Jiaozhou Bay is located near Qingdao on the NE coast of China (see map) and is a major centre for fisheries and mariculture industries, including fish, molluscs and crustaceans. It is also identified in China`s Biodiversity Action Plan (BCAP) as a potential nature reserve due to its high species richness. The environmental quality of the water in Jiaozhou Bay is therefore of immense significance for: (i) the maintenance of fisheries stock; (ii) successful mariculture; (iii) biodiversity conservation. Increased industrial activity and inadequate wastewater treatment in the area surrounding the bay, however, is compromising the marine water quality. Consequently Jiaozhou Bay is one of only seven estuarine wetland ecosystems listed in the BCAP as requiring priority conservation attention.
    [Show full text]
  • ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: IDENTIFICATION, LIFE HISTORY
    ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: IDENTIFICATION, LIFE HISTORY, AND ECOLOGY OF PERITRICH CILIATES AS EPIBIONTS ON CALANOID COPEPODS IN THE CHESAPEAKE BAY Laura Roberta Pinto Utz, Doctor of Philosophy, 2003 Dissertation Directed by: Professor Eugene B. Small Department of Biology Adjunct Professor D. Wayne Coats Department of Biology and Smithsonian Environmental Research Center Epibiotic relationships are a widespread phenomenon in marine, estuarine and freshwater environments, and include diverse epibiont organisms such as bacteria, protists, rotifers, and barnacles. Despite its wide occurrence, epibiosis is still poorly known regarding its consequences, advantages, and disadvantages for host and epibiont. Most studies performed about epibiotic communities have focused on the epibionts’ effects on host fitness, with few studies emphasizing on the epibiont itself. The present work investigates species composition, spatial and temporal fluctuations, and aspects of the life cycle and attachment preferences of Peritrich epibionts on calanoid copepods in Chesapeake Bay, USA. Two species of Peritrich ciliates (Zoothamnium intermedium Precht, 1935, and Epistylis sp.) were identified to live as epibionts on the two most abundant copepod species (Acartia tonsa and Eurytemora affinis) during spring and summer months in Chesapeake Bay. Infestation prevalence was not significantly correlated with environmental variables or phytoplankton abundance, but displayed a trend following host abundance. Investigation of the life cycle of Z. intermedium suggested that it is an obligate epibiont, being unable to attach to non-living substrates in the laboratory or in the field. Formation of free-swimming stages (telotrochs) occurs as a result of binary fission, as observed for other peritrichs, and is also triggered by death or molt of the crustacean host.
    [Show full text]
  • PROTISTAS MARINOS Viviana A
    PROTISTAS MARINOS Viviana A. Alder INTRODUCCIÓN plantas y animales. Según este esquema básico, a las plantas les correspondían las características de En 1673, el editor de Philosophical Transac- ser organismos sésiles con pigmentos fotosinté- tions of the Royal Society of London recibió una ticos para la síntesis de las sustancias esenciales carta del anatomista Regnier de Graaf informan- para su metabolismo a partir de sustancias inor- do que un comerciante holandés, Antonie van gánicas (nutrición autótrofa), y de poseer células Leeuwenhoek, había “diseñado microscopios rodeadas por paredes de celulosa. En oposición muy superiores a aquéllos que hemos visto has- a las plantas, les correspondía a los animales los ta ahora”. Van Leeuwenhoek vendía lana, algo- atributos de tener motilidad activa y de carecer dón y otros materiales textiles, y se había visto tanto de pigmentos fotosintéticos (debiendo por en la necesidad de mejorar las lentes de aumento lo tanto procurarse su alimento a partir de sustan- que comúnmente usaba para contar el número cias orgánicas sintetizadas por otros organismos) de hebras y evaluar la calidad de fibras y tejidos. como de paredes celulósicas en sus células. Así fue que construyó su primer microscopio de Es a partir de los estudios de Georg Gol- lente única: simple, pequeño, pero con un poder dfuss (1782-1848) que estos diminutos organis- de magnificación de hasta 300 aumentos (¡diez mos, invisibles a ojo desnudo, comienzan a ser veces más que sus precursores!). Este magnífico clasificados como plantas primarias
    [Show full text]
  • Protist Phylogeny and the High-Level Classification of Protozoa
    Europ. J. Protistol. 39, 338–348 (2003) © Urban & Fischer Verlag http://www.urbanfischer.de/journals/ejp Protist phylogeny and the high-level classification of Protozoa Thomas Cavalier-Smith Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PS, UK; E-mail: [email protected] Received 1 September 2003; 29 September 2003. Accepted: 29 September 2003 Protist large-scale phylogeny is briefly reviewed and a revised higher classification of the kingdom Pro- tozoa into 11 phyla presented. Complementary gene fusions reveal a fundamental bifurcation among eu- karyotes between two major clades: the ancestrally uniciliate (often unicentriolar) unikonts and the an- cestrally biciliate bikonts, which undergo ciliary transformation by converting a younger anterior cilium into a dissimilar older posterior cilium. Unikonts comprise the ancestrally unikont protozoan phylum Amoebozoa and the opisthokonts (kingdom Animalia, phylum Choanozoa, their sisters or ancestors; and kingdom Fungi). They share a derived triple-gene fusion, absent from bikonts. Bikonts contrastingly share a derived gene fusion between dihydrofolate reductase and thymidylate synthase and include plants and all other protists, comprising the protozoan infrakingdoms Rhizaria [phyla Cercozoa and Re- taria (Radiozoa, Foraminifera)] and Excavata (phyla Loukozoa, Metamonada, Euglenozoa, Percolozoa), plus the kingdom Plantae [Viridaeplantae, Rhodophyta (sisters); Glaucophyta], the chromalveolate clade, and the protozoan phylum Apusozoa (Thecomonadea, Diphylleida). Chromalveolates comprise kingdom Chromista (Cryptista, Heterokonta, Haptophyta) and the protozoan infrakingdom Alveolata [phyla Cilio- phora and Miozoa (= Protalveolata, Dinozoa, Apicomplexa)], which diverged from a common ancestor that enslaved a red alga and evolved novel plastid protein-targeting machinery via the host rough ER and the enslaved algal plasma membrane (periplastid membrane).
    [Show full text]
  • Protistology an International Journal Vol
    Protistology An International Journal Vol. 10, Number 2, 2016 ___________________________________________________________________________________ CONTENTS INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC FORUM «PROTIST–2016» Yuri Mazei (Vice-Chairman) Welcome Address 2 Organizing Committee 3 Organizers and Sponsors 4 Abstracts 5 Author Index 94 Forum “PROTIST-2016” June 6–10, 2016 Moscow, Russia Website: http://onlinereg.ru/protist-2016 WELCOME ADDRESS Dear colleagues! Republic) entitled “Diplonemids – new kids on the block”. The third lecture will be given by Alexey The Forum “PROTIST–2016” aims at gathering Smirnov (Saint Petersburg State University, Russia): the researchers in all protistological fields, from “Phylogeny, diversity, and evolution of Amoebozoa: molecular biology to ecology, to stimulate cross- new findings and new problems”. Then Sandra disciplinary interactions and establish long-term Baldauf (Uppsala University, Sweden) will make a international scientific cooperation. The conference plenary presentation “The search for the eukaryote will cover a wide range of fundamental and applied root, now you see it now you don’t”, and the fifth topics in Protistology, with the major focus on plenary lecture “Protist-based methods for assessing evolution and phylogeny, taxonomy, systematics and marine water quality” will be made by Alan Warren DNA barcoding, genomics and molecular biology, (Natural History Museum, United Kingdom). cell biology, organismal biology, parasitology, diversity and biogeography, ecology of soil and There will be two symposia sponsored by ISoP: aquatic protists, bioindicators and palaeoecology. “Integrative co-evolution between mitochondria and their hosts” organized by Sergio A. Muñoz- The Forum is organized jointly by the International Gómez, Claudio H. Slamovits, and Andrew J. Society of Protistologists (ISoP), International Roger, and “Protists of Marine Sediments” orga- Society for Evolutionary Protistology (ISEP), nized by Jun Gong and Virginia Edgcomb.
    [Show full text]
  • Protozoologica
    Acta Protozool. (2014) 53: 207–213 http://www.eko.uj.edu.pl/ap ACTA doi:10.4467/16890027AP.14.017.1598 PROTOZOOLOGICA Broad Taxon Sampling of Ciliates Using Mitochondrial Small Subunit Ribosomal DNA Micah DUNTHORN1, Meaghan HALL2, Wilhelm FOISSNER3, Thorsten STOECK1 and Laura A. KATZ2,4 1Department of Ecology, University of Kaiserslautern, 67663 Kaiserslautern, Germany; 2Department of Biological Sciences, Smith College, Northampton, MA 01063, USA; 3FB Organismische Biologie, Universität Salzburg, A-5020 Salzburg, Austria; 4Program in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA Abstract. Mitochondrial SSU-rDNA has been used recently to infer phylogenetic relationships among a few ciliates. Here, this locus is compared with nuclear SSU-rDNA for uncovering the deepest nodes in the ciliate tree of life using broad taxon sampling. Nuclear and mitochondrial SSU-rDNA reveal the same relationships for nodes well-supported in previously-published nuclear SSU-rDNA studies, al- though support for many nodes in the mitochondrial SSU-rDNA tree are low. Mitochondrial SSU-rDNA infers a monophyletic Colpodea with high node support only from Bayesian inference, and in the concatenated tree (nuclear plus mitochondrial SSU-rDNA) monophyly of the Colpodea is supported with moderate to high node support from maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference. In the monophyletic Phyllopharyngea, the Suctoria is inferred to be sister to the Cyrtophora in the mitochondrial, nuclear, and concatenated SSU-rDNA trees with moderate to high node support from maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference. Together these data point to the power of adding mitochondrial SSU-rDNA as a standard locus for ciliate molecular phylogenetic inferences.
    [Show full text]
  • International Journal of Life Science and Pharma Research ISSN 2250 - 0480
    ijlpr 2021; doi 10.22376/ijpbs/lpr.2021.11.4.L85-96 International Journal of Life science and Pharma Research ISSN 2250 - 0480 Chemistry for New drug discovery Research Article Biometric Estimation for Understanding the Nature of Vorticella Stalk Contraction- Extension Repeated Consequential Cyclic Processes Dr. Amit Kumar Verma* Cell Biol. Res. Lab., P. G. Department of Zoology, J. P. University, Chapra, Bihar, India. Pin Code – 841301. Abstract: Vorticella stalk is the storehouse of two types of novel proteins, known with the names of spasmins and batonnets. On the basis of nature of proteins and the arrangements of amino acid residues of these proteins, the repeated consequential cyclic processes of contraction dynamics worked by neutralizing the negatively charged amino acid residues as per the laws obeyed by Heber-Weiss, Nernst and Fenton reactions. H+-integrated physiological performances in combination with pCa (partial pressure of calcium ion concentrations) and DNFB (2,4 – dinitrofluorobenzene/Sanger’s reagent) concentration gradients at the range of 1mM to 5mM represented velocity inclination in acidic medium which were more actively pronounced if it was compared with alkaline medium where permeabilized stalk exaggerated potential biochemical- shift-perturbation if it was in respect of non-permeabilized live specimens in both artificial as well as in natural medium in different experimental trials under controlled electro-physiological instrumental setup conditions. On the basis of these experimental designs it was confirmed
    [Show full text]
  • Interactions of Foodborne Pathogens with Freeliving Protozoa
    Interactions of Foodborne Pathogens with Free-living Protozoa: Potential Consequences for Food Safety Mario J.M. Vaerewijck, Julie Bar´e, Ellen Lambrecht, Koen Sabbe, and Kurt Houf Abstract: Free-living protozoa (FLP) are ubiquitous in natural ecosystems where they play an important role in the reduction of bacterial biomass and the regeneration of nutrients. However, it has been shown that some species such as Acanthamoeba castellanii, Acanthamoeba polyphaga,andTetrahymena pyriformis can act as hosts of pathogenic bacteria. There is a growing concern that FLP might contribute to the maintenance of bacterial pathogens in the environment. In addition to survival and/or replication of bacterial pathogens in FLP, resistance to antimicrobial agents and increased virulence of bacteria after passage through protozoa have been reported. This review presents an overview of FLP in food-associated environments and on foods, and discusses bacterial interactions with FLP, with focus on the foodborne pathogens Campylobacter jejuni, Salmonella spp., Escherichia coli O157:H7, and Listeria monocytogenes. The consequences of these microbial interactions to food safety are evaluated. Keywords: Acanthamoeba, bacteria–FLP interactions, food safety, foodborne pathogens, free-living protozoa (FLP), Tetrahymena Introduction 1978) and Legionella pneumophila (Rowbotham 1980) in amebae. Food safety is a major subject of public concern. Food com- In the meantime, intraprotozoan survival and replication is well panies have to implement food safety systems such as GMP and documented for L. pneumophila, the causal agent of Legionnaires’ HACCP to meet the legal requirement for safe food and to gain disease (a severe pneumonia which can be lethal) and Pontiac consumer confidence. Such systems are based on the control by re- fever (a milder respiratory illness without pneumonia).
    [Show full text]