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Journal of Cell Science, Vol 93, 571-579, Copyright © 1989 by Company of Biologists

Submitted on September 22, 1988
Accepted on March 23, 1989

Infection of algae-free Paramecium bursaria with symbiotic Chlorella sp. isolated from green paramecia

II. A timed study

RENATE MEIER 1 and WOLFGANG WIESSNER 2

1 Zellenlehre, Universität Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 230, D-6900 Heidelberg, Federal Republic of Germany
2 Abteilung für Experimentelle Phykologie, Institut für Pflanzenphysiologie, Universität Göttingen, Untere Karspüle 2, D-3400 Göttingen, Federal Republic of Germany

Author for correspondence

Algae-free Paramecium bursaria was exposed to cells of Chlorella sp. for 30s (pulse) and then incubated in algae-free medium for periods between 0 and 15 min. During this chase the fate of the vacuoles formed during the exposure to algae was followed in order to reveal the moment of perialgal vacuole (PV) formation. PVs are characterized by always enclosing an individual algal cell and thus differ from digestive vacuoles (DVs). PVs did not appear immediately after the pulse, but were found only in cells chased for at least 3 min. In those ciliates the algae-containing vacuoles were more than 3 min old and located in the middle part of the cell. These results showed that PVs were not formed directly at the cytopharynx, but many algae were at first enclosed together in large DVs. After the release from the cytopharynx DVs undergo a sequence of fusion events during their cyclosis: fusion with acidosomes apparently occurs at the cell's posterior end, not later than 2 min, and fusion with lysosomes in the middle region of the cell at the earliest at about 7 min, after the pinching off of a DV from the cytopharynx. Thus, PVs appeared to develop from condensing DVs after acidosomal but before lysosomal fusion. As the first step, part of the DV enclosing an individual algal cell must detach from the large vacuole. Further steps and the implications of the mechanism of PV formation resulting in the re-establishment of endosymbionts in P. bursaria are discussed.

Key words: Chlorella sp., digestive vacuole, endosymbiosis, infection experiment, Paramecium bursaria, perialgal vacuole

Submitted on September 22, 1988
Accepted on March 23, 1989




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