Ref ID : 4006
Gregory A. Antipa and George Hatzidimitriou; Morphogenesis in Conchophthirus curtus: a Study of the Morphological Events Associated with Binary Fission. J.Protozool. 28(2):206-214, 1981
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Morphogenesis in Conchophthirus curtus has been investigated by the use of protargol silver impregnation supplemented by selective use of scanning electron microscopy. Events are assigned to nine sequential stages; the last, stage 9, which involves maturation of the somatic ciliature and intraciliature as well as the final development of the buccal cavities of both proter and opisthe, occurs following cytokinesis. Stomatogenesis involves both the parental haplokinety and deep kinetosomal unit (DKU). In perhaps a unique phenomenon, phylogenetically, the ciliated parental haplokinety forms the early oral primordium of the opisthe and is replaced in the proter by the DKU. The DKU then acts as a formative center for new kinetosomes that migrate into the developing opisthe primordium. Late in the process, the haplokinetal primordia of both proter and opisthe give rise to their respective DKU's. Some events of nuclear activity and somatic development are also described. The high degree of structural differentiation of this ciliate has provided the opportunity to examine temporal relationships during morphogenesis. We have found that somatic, buccal, and nuclear events proceed in a tightly coupled sequence. Hence, somatic and nuclear development can be directly correlated with the nine stages of stomatogenesis.