Trophic interactions within the plankton of the lowland River Meuse (Belgium) were measured in spring and summer 2001. Consumption of bacteria by protozoa was measured by monitoring the disappearance of H-thymidine-labelled bacteria. Metazooplankton bacterivory was assessed using 0.5-μm fluorescent microparticles (FMPs), and predation of metazooplankton on ciliates was measured using natural ci...

Brown band syndrome is a new coral affliction characterized by a local accumulation of yet-unidentified ciliates migrating as a band along the branches of coral colonies. In the current study, morphologically intact zooxanthellae (= Symbiodinium) were observed in great numbers inside the ciliates (>50 dinoflagellates per ciliate). Microscale oxygen measurements and variable chlorophyll a fluore...

Ciliates feed by phagocytosis. Some ciliate species, such as Tetrahymena vorax, are polymorphic, a strategy that provides more flexible food utilization. Cells of the microstomal morph of T. vorax feed on bacteria, organic particles and organic solutes in a non-selective manner, whereas macrostome cells are predators that consume specific prey ciliates. In the present study, we investigated a p...

We followed seasonal changes in abundance of bacteria, heterotrophic nanoflagellates (HNF), ciliates and crustaceans, and consumption of bacteria by the protozoans, to investigate trophic interactions among these organisms in a hypereutrophic pond from March to October 1997. Densities of HNF and ciliates were high and attained a maximum of 1 .4 X 105 and 3500 cells ml-l, respectively. However, ...

BACKGROUND The nuclear genetic code has changed in several lineages of ciliates. These changes, UAR to glutamine and UGA to cysteine, imply that eukaryotic release factor 1 (eRF1), the protein that recognizes stop codons and terminates translation, changes specificity. Here we test whether changes in eRF1 drive genetic code evolution. RESULTS Database sequence analysis reveals numerous geneti...

When buffalo were fed once daily, significant diurnal variations in concentration of rumen ciliates and occurrence of dividing protozoa were found. Differences in proportions of dividing Entodinium- and Diplodinium-type ciliates were also observed. Results obtained suggest that the range of diurnal fluctuations in rumen protozoa concentration may be related to the percentage of dividing cells i...

23 24 2 2 ABSTRACT. The kinetics of the antibody production and the protection at challenge 25 were studied in turbot inoculated with different scuticociliate antigen preparations: live 26 ciliates putatively attenuated through long-term in vitro culture (trial 1), and formalin-27 killed ciliates without or with GERBU adjuvant in trials 2, 3 and 4. Antigen used in 28 killed preparations was a m...

Chilodonella uncinata, like all ciliates, contains two distinct nuclei in every cell: a germline micronucleus and a somatic macronucleus. During development of the macronucleus from a zygotic nucleus, the genome is processed in several ways, including elimination of internal sequences. In this study, we analyze micronuclear and macronuclear copies of beta-tubulin in C. uncinata and find at leas...