The effective site of the lesion resulting from a trichocyst non-discharge stable differentiation of somatic nuclei in Paramecium tetraurelia. Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • ABSTRACT Previous work has shown in Paramecium tetraurelia that recessive genic mutants with the phenotype N, non-discharge of trichocysts from intact cells in response to a standard test (exposure to tannic or picric acid), are in some mutants due to lesions in trichocyst development and in others due to lesions in the cytoplasm; and that in stock dn3 the same homozygous germinal genotype can yield by stable differentiation of somatic nuclei both N clones and D (discharge) clones. The site of the lesion in the N clones of dn3 was investigated by the same microinjection protocol used earlier for analysis of the genic mutants: cytoplasm containing trichocysts was removed from wild-type (D) and from dn3 (N) cells and injected into cells of both dn3 (N) and the genic mutant ftA (normal cytoplasm, but morphologically abnormal trichocysts incapable of insertion in the cell cortex or of discharge from intact cells). Trichocysts from each donor behaved the same in both recipients: trichocysts from D cells could discharge; those from dn3 N cells could not. Thus, the cytoplasm of dn3 (N) cells does not prevent the discharge of trichocysts from D cells and the trichocysts from dn3 (N) cells cannot discharge in ftA cells in which trichocysts from wild-type (D) cells can. It appears, therefore, that the lesion in dn3 (N) cells, due to a stable differentiation of somatic nuclei, is in the trichocysts themselves, as it is in certain genic mutants.

published proceedings

  • J Cell Sci

author list (cited authors)

  • Aufderheide, K. J., & Sonneborn, T. M.

citation count

  • 2

complete list of authors

  • Aufderheide, KJ||Sonneborn, TM

publication date

  • October 1979