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The World of Protozoa, Rotifera, Nematoda and Oligochaeta

Ref ID : 2727

John J. Gilbert and Kenneth G. Bogdan; Selectivity of Polyarthra and Keratella for flagellate and aflagellate cells. Verh.int.Ver.Limnol. 21:1515-1521, 1981

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In situ clearance rates of Keratella cochlearis, a mixture of Polyarthra dolichoptera and P. vulgaris, and Bosmina longirostris were measured using combinations of flagellate, wild-type Chlamydomonas reinhardti labeled with [33]P and one of the following cell-types labeled with [32]P: aflagellate, mutant C. reinhardti, wild-type C. reinhardti whose flagella were removed by mild sonication, Chlorella pyrenoidosa, Rhodotorula glutinis. K. cochlearis fed at the same rate on the flagellate and aflagellate Chlamydomonas, and, therefore, does not appear to rely on seizing flagellated cells by their flagella. Polyarthra, however, fed about twice as efficiently on flagellate than on either type of aflagellate Chlamydomonas. The capture of the flagellate cells seems to have been facilitated by the flagella themselves. Bosmina selected flagellate over aflagellate Chlamydomonas but not to the extent exhibited by Polyarthra. Polyarthra ingested neither Chlorella nor Rhodotorula. Selection against these cells could be due, in part, to their lack of flagella, their relatively small size, or their physical and chemical surface characteristics. Keratella and Bosmina both exhibited a strong selection against Chlorella, presumably because it was unpalatable.