Ref ID : 1302
S. Wagener and N. Pfenning; Monoxenic culture of the anaerobic ciliate Trimyema compressum Lackey. Arch.Microbiol. 149:4-11, 1987
Reprint
In File
Notes
Sapropelic ciliates from anoxic mud samples were enriched and cultivated in monoculture together with natural food bacteria growing on cellulose. The ciliates lacked cytochrome oxidase and contained bluish fluorescent endosymbionts. One of the anaerobic ciliates, Trimyema compressum, contained methanogenic bacteria as was shown by methane formation. During continued cultivation, T. compressum gradually lost its endosymbionts. With SEM microscopy no episymbiotic bacteria could be detected. Form enrichment cultures of T. compressum, anaerobic bacteria were isolated in pure culture. One of the strains, a Bacterioides spec., proved capable of serving as food bacteria, thus allowing establishment of monoxenic T. compressum cultures. These cultures exhibited a requirement for sterols as growth factors. The doubling time of this ciliate was 13 hr at 28 degrees C. The highest yield obtained was 2100 cells/ml.