Ref ID : 1173
Brenda Nisbet; An ultrastructural study of the feeding apparatus of Peranema trichophorum. J.Protozool. 21(1):39-48, 1974
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A model of the feeding apparatus of Peranema trichophorum Ehrenberg has been constructed from electronmicrographs. A common opening leads via a short anterior canal to the reservoir and cytostome. The cytostome lies close to the internal opening of the canal, and can be moved forward during feeding, closing the passage to the reservoir, and displacing the flagella. The cytostome is supported by the rodorgan in its floor and a double serrated marginal lamella arching over its upper rim from dense bodies lying lateral to the cytostome. A working hypothesis for the movement of the feeding apparatus is proposed. The elaborate system of the articulating lamellae operates through these dense bodies which may act as "hinge joints". The rodorgan is pulled forward by contraction of longitudinal lamellae attached near the bases of the rods. Cytoplasmic pressure may also be involved. It is suggested that the pull is transmitted through the dense bodies and 2 anchoring lamellae to crescentic canal thickenings on either side of the canal, now enlarged by sideways pull from the anchoring lamellae. Withdrawal of these structures sucks food into the cytostomal sac to be packed down by contraction of the double serrated lamella. It is postulated that the rodorgan operates through adhesion and cytolysis and is not adapted for piercing. A conspicuous striated fibril and associated groups of microtubules in the left wall of the reservoir are cytoskeletal structures.