The putatively asexual Colpodean ciliates potentially pose a problem to macro-organismic theories of evolution. They are extremely ancient (although asexuality is thought to hasten extinction), and yet there is one apparently derived sexual species (implying an unlikely regain of a complex trait). If macro-organismic theories of evolution also broadly apply to microbial eukaryotes, though, then...

Many anaerobic ciliates possess hydrogenosomes, and consequently, they have the potential to host endosymbiotic methanogens. The endosymbiotic methanogens are vertically transmitted and even the cyst stages carry methanogens. Accordingly, the analysis of the SSU rRNA genes of ciliates and their methanogenic endosymbionts revealed that the endosymbionts are specific for their hosts and not ident...

Abstract. The aim of this work is to investigate the relationship between indicators cicatricial digestion and linearity cows. Methods. research was carried out in breeding enterprises Sverdlovsk region on livestock Ural-type Cicatricial fluid collected with an oropharyngeal rubber probe, a wooden yaw also used. content assessed at Chelyabinsk Interregional Veterinary Laboratory. pH value deter...

Unicellular picocyanobacteria, such as species of the genus Synechococcus, are unsuitable for supporting growth and reproduction of Daphnia spp. In Synechococcus spp., long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and sterols are absent, which leads to a low carbon transfer efficiency at the picocyanobacteria–Daphnia spp. interface. Herein, we address the question as to whether ciliates can se...

We have previously demonstrated conjugation of Escherichia coli into vacuoles of the protozoal ciliate (Tetrahymena thermophila). This indicated a possible role of ciliates in evoking bacterial quorum sensing, directly connecting bacterial survival via accumulation in the ciliate vacuoles. We therefore assessed if ciliates promoted bacterial autoinducer (AI)-2 accumulation with vacuole formatio...

OBJECTIVES The mechanism by which Escherichia coli acquires multidrug resistance genes from other bacteria in the natural environment or livestock is still unclear. The ability of ciliates to promote the transfer of genes encoding extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs) between the CTX-M-27 donor and clinically isolated recipient E. coli strains was investigated. METHODS Equal amounts (∼10(9) ...

Predation by protists is top-down pressure that regulates prokaryotic abundance, community function, structure, and diversity in natural and artificial ecosystems. Although the effects of predation by protists have been studied in aerobic ecosystems, they are poorly understood in anoxic environments. We herein studied the influence of predation by Metopus and Caenomorpha ciliates-ciliates frequ...

Small, aloricate ciliates with equivalent spherical cell diameters ~20 km (biovolume <4,000 pm3) compose, on average, 4-57% of the total biomass of heterotrophic (apochlorotic) nanoplankton in diverse marine systems. Biomass production of nanoplanktonic ciliates in a southeastern U.S. estuary was also a significant part of the total production of heterotrophic microprotozoa. During summer in a ...