Abstract
Euplotes focardii, a ciliate species recently collected from sand sediments of Terra Nova Bay (Ross Sea, Antarctica) reproduced in the laboratory with a duplication time of approximately 72 h, at 4°C. Strains representative of two different mating types were identified and mixed together to produce mating pairs. These showed traits rather unusual for Euplotes species. The two pair members remained united for at least 8–10 days. However, only one carried out fertilization and was able to give rise to a new clone of vegetative cells; the other underwent cell body shrinking after 4–5 days of union, lost the locomotory ciliary apparatus, and eventually died. By analyses of mating pairs formed in mixtures of cell samples cytologically distinct from each other, it was ascertained that the different cell behavior is strain-specific.
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Valbonesi, A., Luporini, P. Biology of Euplotes focardii, an Antarctic ciliate. Polar Biol 13, 489–493 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00233140
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00233140