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Protists, memes and random musings

Psi Wavefunction
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  • March 11, 2010
  • 03:05 AM
  • 20 views

Fossil testate amoebae

by Psi Wavefunction in Skeptic Wonder

There's something about the idea of fossilised single-celled organisms that's just pure awesome. Even if it's just their shells.For example, take a look at these past relatives of Centropyxis and Leptochlamys from Schmidt et al. 2010 JEM, AOP:Testate amoebae from 100mya amber in France. The arrow in 1 points to what the authors believe may be fossilised cytoplasm flowing out of the cell. 2) four ventral pores visible. 4-7) holotype of modern Leptochlamys, optical sections. 8-11 potential resting........ Read more »

SCHMIDT, A., GIRARD, V., PERRICHOT, V., & SCHÖNBORN, W. (2010) Testate Amoebae from a Cretaceous Forest Floor Microbiocoenosis of France. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology. DOI: 10.1111/j.1550-7408.2010.00471.x  

  • March 10, 2010
  • 05:00 AM
  • 26 views

'Sunday Protist' - Sorogena: A ciliate 'slime mould'!

by Psi Wavefunction in Skeptic Wonder

I realise it's not anywhere near Sunday anymore, but I'm rapidly approaching Busy Threat Level Red, at which point I'll just hide in my "No Zone" and refuse to do anything beyond the bare minimum to get by... I really shouldn't be doing this right now, but the poor protists have been neglected for a while. Mostly. You should go check out Saccamminid forams at the Catalogue of Organisms, but not at the expense of reading my post, of course ^_~Remember the tricky Mystery Micrograph #10? Probably n........ Read more »

BARDELE, C., FOISSNER, W., & BLANTON, R. (1991) Morphology, Morphogenesis and Systematic Position of the Sorocarp Forming Ciliate Sorogena Stoianovitchae Bradbury . The Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology, 38(1), 7-17. DOI: 10.1111/j.1550-7408.1991.tb04785.x  

Blanton, R., & Olive, L. (1983) Ultrastructure of aerial stalk formation by the ciliated protozoanSorogena stoianovitchae. Protoplasma, 116(2-3), 125-135. DOI: 10.1007/BF01279829  

Blanton, R., & Olive, L. (1983) Stalk function during sorogenesis by the ciliated protozoanSorogena stoianovitchae. Protoplasma, 116(2-3), 136-144. DOI: 10.1007/BF01279830  

OLIVE, L., & BLANTON, R. (1980) Aerial Sorocarp Development By the Aggregative Ciliate, Sorogena Stoianovitchae. The Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology, 27(3), 293-299. DOI: 10.1111/j.1550-7408.1980.tb04260.x  

SUGIMOTO, H., & ENDOH, H. (2006) Analysis of Fruiting Body Development in the Aggregative Ciliate Sorogena stoianovitchae (Ciliophora, Colpodea). The Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology, 53(2), 96-102. DOI: 10.1111/j.1550-7408.2005.00077.x  

  • March 6, 2010
  • 03:14 AM
  • 36 views

Obscure Litostomatean to ease protist cravings - Troglodytella

by Psi Wavefunction in Skeptic Wonder

I heard you guys miss protists. Lemme put one up to help cope with the prolongued absense. Hmmm, something quick...ah, can't go wrong with obscure Litostomatea!Intestinal ciliate Troglodytella abrassarti from siamangs, a type of gibbon, apparently. Scalebars: 20um (O'Donoghue et al. 1993 Int J Parasitol)Eight contractile vacuoles? Wow. This thing is huge and complicated. They're awesome! I mean, take look at its close relative Troglocorys -- Litostomatean morphology is perfect for inspiring huge........ Read more »

ODONOGHUE, P., GASSER, R., & TRIBE, A. (1993) New host record for the entodiniomorphid ciliate, troglodytella abrassarti, from siamangs (hylobates syndactylus). International Journal for Parasitology, 23(3), 415-418. DOI: 10.1016/0020-7519(93)90020-Y  

  • February 9, 2010
  • 05:56 AM
  • 80 views

ToE Expansion pack: Foraminifera!

by Psi Wavefunction in Skeptic Wonder

After getting over my little moment of rage there, I decided to go ahead and redo the forams while I could still vaguely remember the phylogeny, sort of. So here comes the Tree of Eukaryotes Expansion Pack: Forams!I hope somebody is happy now, after nagging me about the freaking forams for the past two weeks! I know they deserve more space, and I did them an awful injustice by shrinking the entire group to just 'Forams'. Since I still haven't figured out the space problem (should I just shrink e........ Read more »

Flakowski, J. (2005) ACTIN PHYLOGENY OF FORAMINIFERA. The Journal of Foraminiferal Research, 35(2), 93-102. DOI: 10.2113/35.2.93  

HABURA, A., GOLDSTEIN, S., PARFREY, L., & BOWSER, S. (2006) Phylogeny and Ultrastructure of Miliammina fusca: Evidence for Secondary Loss of Calcification in a Miliolid Foraminifer. The Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology, 53(3), 204-210. DOI: 10.1111/j.1550-7408.2006.00096.x  

LONGET, D., & PAWLOWSKI, J. (2007) Higher-level phylogeny of Foraminifera inferred from the RNA polymerase II (RPB1) gene. European Journal of Protistology, 43(3), 171-177. DOI: 10.1016/j.ejop.2007.01.003  

Pawlowski, J. (2003) The evolution of early Foraminifera. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 100(20), 11494-11498. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2035132100  

  • February 7, 2010
  • 07:29 AM
  • 85 views

MM#11 Answer: Rhizochromulina: algal amoeba

by Psi Wavefunction in Skeptic Wonder

Remember this from a looooooong time ago?Rhizochromulina. Mischievously looks like a chlorarachniophyte... [source]As a warning, about the only marginally comprehensive ochrophyte phylogeny I found was in TC-S & Chao, J Mol Evol. It looks like this, and makes me want to cry:[no comment needed] (TC-S & Chao 2006 J Mol Evol)In case those names look simply alien to you, you're not alone. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they'd stump some phycologists. Ochrophyte phycologists. This, my fr........ Read more »

CAVALIER-SMITH, T. (2009) Megaphylogeny, Cell Body Plans, Adaptive Zones: Causes and Timing of Eukaryote Basal Radiations. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology, 56(1), 26-33. DOI: 10.1111/j.1550-7408.2008.00373.x  

Eikrem, W, Romari, K, Latasa, M, Le Gall, F, & et al. (2004) Florenciella parvula gen. et sp. nov.(Dictyochophyceae, Heterokontophyta), a small flagellate isolated from the English Channel. Phycologia, 43(6), 658-668. info:/

Hibberd, D. (1971) Observations on the cytology and ultrastructure of Chrysamoeba radians Klebs (Chrysophyceae). European Journal of Phycology, 6(2), 207-223. DOI: 10.1080/00071617100650231  

  • February 1, 2010
  • 03:49 AM
  • 61 views

Sunday Protist -- Auranticordis: "Orange Heart"

by Psi Wavefunction in Skeptic Wonder

(Also the answer to MM12, which nobody got, although I haven't particularly followed up on the hints either...)If you're ever low on ideas for your next taxonomic adventure, Cercozoa is one endlessly fascinating clade that never fails to offer surpises. In fact, the more you explore them, the less familiar they become. Cercozoa (TC-S 1998) can offer pretty much anything -- from photosynthetic amoebae to the utterly bizarre Phaeodaria to beautiful testate Euglyphids (including a case of separate ........ Read more »

Chantangsi, C., Esson, H., & Leander, B. (2008) Morphology and molecular phylogeny of a marine interstitial tetraflagellate with putative endosymbionts: Auranticordis quadriverberis n. gen. et sp. (Cercozoa). BMC Microbiology, 8(1), 123. DOI: 10.1186/1471-2180-8-123  

  • January 28, 2010
  • 05:27 AM
  • 77 views

Our very own Tree of Eukaryotes

by Psi Wavefunction in Skeptic Wonder

Time to unveil what I've been up to for the past several Friday nights. I figured that after nearly a year and a half, and almost 20K page views, it's time for our blog to grow up a bit. What we need is our very own tree.Remember how I often refer to the Keeling et al 2005 tree when pointing out where some obscure organism lies on the 'map'? Well, that tree is 5 years out of date now. In fields like molecular biology and genomics, a lot can change in five years; compounded with how the protistan........ Read more »

CAVALIERSMITH, T. (2003) Phylogeny and Classification of Phylum Cercozoa (Protozoa). Protist, 154(3-4), 341-358. DOI: 10.1078/143446103322454112  

Cavalier-Smith, T., & Chao, E. (2006) Phylogeny and Megasystematics of Phagotrophic Heterokonts (Kingdom Chromista). Journal of Molecular Evolution, 62(4), 388-420. DOI: 10.1007/s00239-004-0353-8  

James, T., Kauff, F., Schoch, C., Matheny, P., Hofstetter, V., Cox, C., Celio, G., Gueidan, C., Fraker, E., Miadlikowska, J.... (2006) Reconstructing the early evolution of Fungi using a six-gene phylogeny. Nature, 443(7113), 818-822. DOI: 10.1038/nature05110  

KEELING, P., BURGER, G., DURNFORD, D., LANG, B., LEE, R., PEARLMAN, R., ROGER, A., & GRAY, M. (2005) The tree of eukaryotes. Trends in Ecology , 20(12), 670-676. DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2005.09.005  

Lewis, L., & McCourt, R. (2004) Green algae and the origin of land plants. American Journal of Botany, 91(10), 1535-1556. DOI: 10.3732/ajb.91.10.1535  

PAWLOWSKI, J., & BURKI, F. (2009) Untangling the Phylogeny of Amoeboid Protists. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology, 56(1), 16-25. DOI: 10.1111/j.1550-7408.2008.00379.x  

Taylor, F., Hoppenrath, M., & Saldarriaga, J. (2007) Dinoflagellate diversity and distribution. Biodiversity and Conservation, 17(2), 407-418. DOI: 10.1007/s10531-007-9258-3  

  • January 21, 2010
  • 05:41 AM
  • 84 views

ME TARZAN! Simple morphology: the result of a large, complex, multicultural language community?

by Psi Wavefunction in Skeptic Wonder

For a brief change of topic, let's take a look at language evolution! I wrote up the following novel review paper blog post for a non-biological evolution seminar course I'm involved with. We're essentially first examining various key topics in evolutionary biology (alas too briefly!), exploring how the by-now well-established field of evolutionary linguistics successfully applies evolutionary theory to languages (technically much of it before biology came along...linguists invented phylogeny!),........ Read more »

Lupyan, G., & Dale, R. (2010) Language Structure Is Partly Determined by Social Structure. PLoS ONE, 5(1). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0008559  

  • January 12, 2010
  • 03:37 PM
  • 110 views

Latest in bizzare intestinal ciliates: Troglocorys cava of chimps

by Psi Wavefunction in Skeptic Wonder

Ahhh, I always get excited whenever something new pops up in J Euk Microbiol!This time we have a rather bizzare entodiniomorphid ciliate (remember Litostomatea?): Troglocorys cava, a gut denizen of chimps from Uganda! The following SEM may give you the impression that it's gut has been sliced open with entrails hanging out:Litostomatean intestinal ciliate Troglocorys from the chimp. Note the peculiar concavity (1; CO), filled with "round projections" and a "deep groove" (3; arrows). Scalebar = 1........ Read more »

TOKIWA, T., MODRÝ, D., ITO, A., POMAJBÍKOVÁ, K., PETRŽELKOVÁ, K., & IMAI, S. (2010) A New Entodiniomorphid Ciliate, Troglocorys cava n. g., n. sp., from the Wild Eastern Chimpanzee from Uganda . Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology. DOI: 10.1111/j.1550-7408.2009.00456.x  

  • January 11, 2010
  • 04:40 AM
  • 120 views

Sunday Protist - Kofoidia: Crowned by luriculae

by Psi Wavefunction in Skeptic Wonder

This one will be short, as I still haven't had the chance to sit down and go on an epic research blogging adventure. Let's glance at Kofoidia, an obscure hypermastigote parabasalian.It must think it's an Oligotrich ciliate of some sort. Poor deluded thing. Since I seem to gravitate towards obscure organisms mentioned in a single paper in all the literature available/mentioned online, there is but a sole lonely drawing of this organism: Parabasalid Kofoidia loriculata. Desperately in need of an S........ Read more »

ADL, S., SIMPSON, A., FARMER, M., ANDERSEN, R., ANDERSON, O., BARTA, J., BOWSER, S., BRUGEROLLE, G., FENSOME, R., FREDERICQ, S.... (2005) The New Higher Level Classification of Eukaryotes with Emphasis on the Taxonomy of Protists. The Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology, 52(5), 399-451. DOI: 10.1111/j.1550-7408.2005.00053.x  

  • January 9, 2010
  • 12:55 AM
  • 151 views

Tantalising deep sea diversity...

by Psi Wavefunction in Skeptic Wonder

I don't think I'd ever be able to work on a large-scale environmental genomics project -- the mere idea of having nothing but a GenBANK accession number with a fragment of ribosomal DNA for an organism really REALLY bugs me. Don't get me wrong: it's valuable data suggesting how much unseen diversity there may actually be, but this is exactly what bugs me about it -- It's simply tantalising. It's there, we can see it, but you may never encounter these mysterious organisms again. All we have for t........ Read more »

Scheckenbach, F., Hausmann, K., Wylezich, C., Weitere, M., & Arndt, H. (2009) Large-scale patterns in biodiversity of microbial eukaryotes from the abyssal sea floor. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107(1), 115-120. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0908816106  

  • December 22, 2009
  • 07:24 AM
  • 188 views

Sunday Protist -- Oligotrich Ciliates: another morphological acid trip

by Psi Wavefunction in Skeptic Wonder

Of course, no one noticed any delays in the posting of the Sunday Protist, because that never happened. Actually, I've been rather frazzled by this little fun activity that happens around this time of the year called 'finals', and thus had to desperately avoid any material I may find myself actually interested in, lest it hijacks my attention for too long. Also, I'll be mostly internetless starting tomorrow, and thus unable to blog. Coming back on 03 January. May or may not schedule a post, depe........ Read more »

Agatha S. (2004) A cladistic approach for the classification of oligotrichid ciliates (Ciliophora: Spirotricha). Acta Protozoologica , 43(3), 201-217. info:/

AGATHA, S. (2004) Evolution of ciliary patterns in the Oligotrichida (Ciliophora, Spirotricha) and its taxonomic implications. Zoology, 107(2), 153-168. DOI: 10.1016/j.zool.2004.02.003  

AGATHA, S., STRUDER-KYPKE, M., & BERAN, A. (2004) Morphologic and Genetic Variability in the Marine Planktonic Ciliate Laboea strobila Lohmann, 1908 (Ciliophora, Oligotrichia), with Notes on its Ontogenesis. The Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology, 51(3), 267-281. DOI: 10.1111/j.1550-7408.2004.tb00567.x  

Gao, S., Gong, J., Lynn, D., Lin, X., & Song, W. (2009) An updated phylogeny of oligotrich and choreotrich ciliates (Protozoa, Ciliophora, Spirotrichea) with representative taxa collected from Chinese coastal waters. Systematics and Biodiversity, 7(02), 235. DOI: 10.1017/S1477200009002989  

MODEO, L., PETRONI, G., ROSATI, G., & MONTAGNES, D. (2003) A Multidisciplinary Approach to Describe Protists: Redescriptions of Novistrombidium testaceum Anigstein 1914 and Strombidium inclinatum Montagnes, Taylor, and Lynn 1990 (Ciliophora, Oligotrichia). The Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology, 50(3), 175-189. DOI: 10.1111/j.1550-7408.2003.tb00114.x  

Skovgaard, A., & Legrand, C. (2005) Observation of live specimens of Pseudotontonia cornuta (Ciliophora: Oligotrichida) reveals new distinctive characters. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 85(4), 783-786. DOI: 10.1017/S0025315405011707  

  • December 14, 2009
  • 07:39 AM
  • 169 views

Sunday Protist - Phytomonas: plant trypanosomatids!

by Psi Wavefunction in Skeptic Wonder

While I was trying to come up with something quick to blog about, got a couple updates in Google Reader from J. Eukaryotic Microbiol, among them a paper on... trypanosomatids living in coconut tree phloem! Somehow, you don't typically think of plants being invaded by motile, flagellate things, but on a second thought: why not? The phloem is a vessel, and while perhaps there's no need to run away from macrophages or anything, there's no particular harm in retaining the ability to swim around. Esp........ Read more »

Docampo, R., de Souza, W., Miranda, K., Rohloff, P., & Moreno, S. (2005) Acidocalcisomes — conserved from bacteria to man. Nature Reviews Microbiology, 3(3), 251-261. DOI: 10.1038/nrmicro1097  

KELLER, D., & MIGUENS, F. (2009) In Vitro Cultivation and Morphological Characterization of Phloemic Trypanosomatids Isolated from Coconut Trees. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology. DOI: 10.1111/j.1550-7408.2009.00454.x  

Santos, A., d'Avila-Levy, C., Elias, C., Vermelho, A., & Branquinha, M. (2007) Phytomonas serpens: immunological similarities with the human trypanosomatid pathogens. Microbes and Infection, 9(8), 915-921. DOI: 10.1016/j.micinf.2007.03.018  

SIMPSON, A., STEVENS, J., & LUKES, J. (2006) The evolution and diversity of kinetoplastid flagellates. Trends in Parasitology, 22(4), 168-174. DOI: 10.1016/j.pt.2006.02.006  

  • December 13, 2009
  • 06:43 AM
  • 130 views

MM09 answer: Hoplonympha

by Psi Wavefunction in Skeptic Wonder

I'm really behind on the answers. I'll do the easier one first, so MM08 will be next.Remember this myserious organism from a while ago? Johan got it: it's Hoplonympha, a parabasalian gut endosymbiont! (Opisthokont was also on the right track)Hoplonympha. top: SEM of whole organism (F indicates flagella), the long strips are actually ectosymbiotic bacteria, as evident in the TEM cross section on the bottom. CM - cytoplasmic [inner] membrane, OM - outer membrane, SL - S-layer. Note that unlike in........ Read more »

Noda, S., Inoue, T., Hongoh, Y., Kawai, M., Nalepa, C., Vongkaluang, C., Kudo, T., & Ohkuma, M. (2006) Identification and characterization of ectosymbionts of distinct lineages in Bacteroidales attached to flagellated protists in the gut of termites and a wood-feeding cockroach. Environmental Microbiology, 8(1), 11-20. DOI: 10.1111/j.1462-2920.2005.00860.x  

CARPENTER, K., CHOW, L., & KEELING, P. (2009) Morphology, Phylogeny, and Diversity of (Parabasalia: Hypermastigida) of the Wood-Feeding Cockroach . Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology, 56(4), 305-313. DOI: 10.1111/j.1550-7408.2009.00406.x  

OHKUMA, M. (2008) Symbioses of flagellates and prokaryotes in the gut of lower termites. Trends in Microbiology, 16(7), 345-352. DOI: 10.1016/j.tim.2008.04.004  

Stingl, U. (2004) Symbionts of the gut flagellate Staurojoenina sp. from Neotermes cubanus represent a novel, termite-associated lineage of Bacteroidales: description of 'Candidatus Vestibaculum illigatum'. Microbiology, 150(7), 2229-2235. DOI: 10.1099/mic.0.27135-0  

  • December 7, 2009
  • 06:23 AM
  • 151 views

Sunday Protist - Paramyxids: Nested parasites and introverted multicellularity

by Psi Wavefunction in Skeptic Wonder

A while ago we peered into the lidded jar-like spores of Haplosporidia, memorable by their peculiar habbit of building up pressure and popping open the lid upon germination, much like a jack-in-the-box. But nastier, if you're an oyster. While digging around in obscure haplosporidian literature, we came across their lesser known close relatives, the Paramyxids, characterised by their pechant for sporulating 'inward' several times, in a strange genre of parasitism reminiscent of matryoshka dolls*......... Read more »

Cavalier-Smith, T., & Chao, E. (2003) Phylogeny of Choanozoa, Apusozoa, and Other Protozoa and Early Eukaryote Megaevolution. Journal of Molecular Evolution, 56(5), 540-563. DOI: 10.1007/s00239-002-2424-z  

Desportes, I. (1984) The Paramyxea Levine 1979: An original example of evolution towards multicellularity. Origins of Life, 13(3-4), 343-352. DOI: 10.1007/BF00927182  

Feist SW, Hine PM, Bateman KS, Stentiford GD, & Longshaw M. (2009) Paramarteilia canceri sp. n. (Cercozoa) in the European edible crab (Cancer pagurus) with a proposal for the revision of the order Paramyxida Chatton, 1911. Folia parasitologica, 56(2), 73-85. PMID: 19606783  

ITOH, N. (2004) Early developmental stages of a protozoan parasite, Marteilioides chungmuensis (Paramyxea), the causative agent of the ovary enlargement disease in the Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas. International Journal for Parasitology, 34(10), 1129-1135. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpara.2004.06.001  

Kleeman, S. (2002) Detection of the initial infective stages of the protozoan parasite Marteilia sydneyi in Saccostrea glomerata and their development through to sporogenesis. International Journal for Parasitology, 32(6), 767-784. DOI: 10.1016/S0020-7519(02)00025-5  

LARSSON IR, & KØIE M. (2005) Ultrastructual Study and Description of Paramyxoides nephtys gen. n., sp. n. a Parasite of Nephtyscaeca(Fabricius, 1780) (Polychaeta: Nephtyidae). Acta Protozoologica, 44(2), 175-187. info:/

  • December 3, 2009
  • 04:45 PM
  • 148 views

"The anus was a prerequisite for intelligence" TC-S quote anthology 01

by Psi Wavefunction in Skeptic Wonder

Still working on the Sunday Protist; it's the last week of classes, finals start next week, and I have to sort out some last minute stuff for the seminar we're running next term (finally got it officially up and running in terms of registration!). As you can see, I'm rather swamped here. Also, staying up till 4am working on the Sunday Protist last night was definitely not a splendid idea. I blame TC-S for distracting me with his elaborate hypotheses...Speaking of which, I've started my very own ........ Read more »

Cavalier-Smith, T. (2006) Cell evolution and Earth history: stasis and revolution. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 361(1470), 969-1006. DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2006.1842  

CAVALIER-SMITH, T. (2005) Economy, Speed and Size Matter: Evolutionary Forces Driving Nuclear Genome Miniaturization and Expansion. Annals of Botany, 95(1), 147-175. DOI: 10.1093/aob/mci010  

  • November 27, 2009
  • 06:44 AM
  • 844 views

Heterolobosea II - 'Split Morphology Disorder': amoebo-flagellate transformation in Naegleria

by Psi Wavefunction in Skeptic Wonder

Earlier, in Heterolobosea I, I promised brain-eating amoebae with a split morphology disorder. Having a bit of a morphology fetish, I find the latter topic fascinating, so bear with me as we get into some gory details of cell biology, which I strive to make at least somewhat readable to sane human beings. As always, please let me know if anything is unclear, or *gasp* inaccurate...Fundamentals of cellular morphologyMost organisms strive to have some semblance of shape (including bacteria). To cr........ Read more »

Dingle AD, & Fulton C. (1966) Development of the flagellar apparatus of Naegleria. The Journal of cell biology, 31(1), 43-54. PMID: 5971974  

Fulton C, & Walsh C. (1980) Cell differentiation and flagellar elongation in Naegleria gruberi. Dependence on transcription and translation. The Journal of cell biology, 85(2), 346-60. PMID: 6154711  

González-Robles, A., Cristóbal-Ramos, A., González-Lázaro, M., Omaña-Molina, M., & Martínez-Palomo, A. (2009) Naegleria fowleri: Light and electron microscopy study of mitosis. Experimental Parasitology, 122(3), 212-217. DOI: 10.1016/j.exppara.2009.03.016  

Outka DE, & Kluss BC. (1967) The ameba-to-flagellate transformation in Tetramitus rostratus. II. Microtubular morphogenesis. The Journal of cell biology, 35(2), 323-46. PMID: 4861775  

WALSH, C. (2007) The role of actin, actomyosin and microtubules in defining cell shape during the differentiation of Naegleria amebae into flagellates. European Journal of Cell Biology, 86(2), 85-98. DOI: 10.1016/j.ejcb.2006.10.003  

  • November 23, 2009
  • 05:26 AM
  • 195 views

Sunday Protist - Litostomatea: rumen ciliates with incredible morphology

by Psi Wavefunction in Skeptic Wonder

Scary lab exam in 9h, so this one will be another 'protist appreciation' compilation rather than anything particularly informative. Today this maltreatment will be inflicted upon some poor ciliates, which deserve much more than just a simple appreciation post. Ciliates ARE the higher eukaryotes, the most advanced and awesome organisms on earth. What god created in his/her/its image wasn't the ugly naked humans, it was, in fact, Spirotrich ciliates. Everything else is just basal offshoots, failed........ Read more »

CAMERON, S. (2002) The ultrastructure of and revised diagnosis of the Macropodiniidae (Litostomatea: Trichostomatia). European Journal of Protistology, 38(2), 179-194. DOI: 10.1078/0932-4739-00861  

FURNESS, D., & BUTLER, R. (1983) The Cytology of Sheep Rumen Ciliates. I. Ultrastructure of Epidinium caudatum Crawley. The Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology, 30(4), 676-687. DOI: 10.1111/j.1550-7408.1983.tb05343.x  

Furness, D., & Butler, R. (1985) The Cytology of Sheep Rumen Ciliates. II. Ultrastructure of Eudiplodinium maggii. The Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology, 32(1), 205-214. DOI: 10.1111/j.1550-7408.1985.tb03041.x  

LYNN, D. (2003) Morphology or molecules: How do we identify the major lineages of ciliates (Phylum Ciliophora). European Journal of Protistology, 39(4), 356-364. DOI: 10.1078/0932-4739-00004  

STRUDERKYPKE, M., KORNILOVA, O., & LYNN, D. (2007) Phylogeny of trichostome ciliates (Ciliophora, Litostomatea) endosymbiotic in the Yakut horse (Equus caballus). European Journal of Protistology, 43(4), 319-328. DOI: 10.1016/j.ejop.2007.06.005  

  • November 21, 2009
  • 07:04 AM
  • 267 views

Ciliate orgies and barnacles with twin penises

by Psi Wavefunction in Skeptic Wonder

Like any other human beings on the planet, scientists too are enamoured with sex and genitalia. After all, procreation (self-replication) is the central theme in biology, and we tend to find it more fun when more than one individual is involved. Especially when these individuals differ anatomically into categories, in our case, two types, since that is what's most familiar to us. As far as I know, no lineage has evolved obligatory triple conjugations of three different mating types, although suc........ Read more »

Chen, T. (1940) Conjugation of Three Animals in Paramecium bursaria. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 26(4), 231-238. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.26.4.231  

Chen, T. (1945) Induction of Conjugation in Paramecium bursaria Among Animals of One Mating Type by Fluid from Another Mating Type. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 31(12), 404-410. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.31.12.404  

Hoch, J., & Yuen, B. (2009) An Individual Barnacle, Semibalanus balanoides, with Two Penises. Journal of Crustacean Biology, 29(1), 135. DOI: 10.1651/08-3037.1  

Preparata RM, & Nanney DL. (1977) Cytogenetics of triplet conjugation in Tetrahymena: origin of haploid and triploid clones. Chromosoma, 60(1), 49-57. PMID: 870290  

  • November 4, 2009
  • 07:17 AM
  • 207 views

MM#07 Answer: Haplosporidia -- spores with lids

by Psi Wavefunction in Skeptic Wonder

Johan, our resident micropaleontologist, got this past week's Mystery Micrograph - congratulations! The answer was: Haplosporidia. Johan went the extra mile and identified its genus: Minchinia. This one is M.mercenariae, from Ford et al. 2009 JEM:Minchinia mercenariae (Haplosporidian) from the clam Mercenaria mercenaria; 13 - SEM of spore with arrow pointing to the opening; 12 - spore with a closed hinged lid; 2 - Minchinia's 'habitat' in the clam connective tissue (which it has taken over), whi........ Read more »

Azevedo, C. (1984) Ultrastructure of the Spore of Haplosporidium lusitanicum sp. n. (Haplosporida, Haplosporidiidae), Parasite of a Marine Mollusc. The Journal of Parasitology, 70(3), 358. DOI: 10.2307/3281564  

AZEVEDO, C., BALSEIRO, P., CASAL, G., GESTAL, C., ARANGUREN, R., STOKES, N., CARNEGIE, R., NOVOA, B., BURRESON, E., & FIGUERAS, A. (2006) Ultrastructural and molecular characterization of Haplosporidium montforti n. sp., parasite of the European abalone Haliotis tuberculata. Journal of Invertebrate Pathology, 92(1), 23-32. DOI: 10.1016/j.jip.2006.02.002  

Azevedo, C., Casal, G., & Montes, J. (2008) Ultrastructural Developmental Cycle of Haplosporidium montforti (Phylum Haplosporidia) in its Farmed Abalone Host, Haliotis tuberculata (Gastropoda). Journal of Parasitology, 94(1), 137-142. DOI: 10.1645/GE-1177.1  

Cavalier-Smith, T., & Chao, E. (2003) Phylogeny of Choanozoa, Apusozoa, and Other Protozoa and Early Eukaryote Megaevolution. Journal of Molecular Evolution, 56(5), 540-563. DOI: 10.1007/s00239-002-2424-z  

FORD, S., STOKES, N., BURRESON, E., SCARPA, E., CARNEGIE, R., KRAEUTER, J., & BUSHEK, D. (2009) Minchinia mercenariae n. sp. (Haplosporidia) in the Hard Clam Mercenaria mercenaria Implications of a Rare Parasite in a Commercially Important Host . Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology, 56(6), 542-551. DOI: 10.1111/j.1550-7408.2009.00432.x  

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