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The World of Protozoa, Rotifera, Nematoda and Oligochaeta

Ref ID : 7183

Kenneth M. Old, Sukumar Chakraborty, and R. Gibbs; Fine Structure of a New Mycophagous Amoeba and its feeding on Cochliobolus sativus. Soil Biol.Biochem. 17(5):645-655, 1985

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An unidentified mycophagous soil amoeba is described. The pigmented soil-borne fungus Cochliobolus sativus and four other fungal species, both pigmented and hyaline, were utilized as food. Spores were ingested and lysed within digestive vacuoles by general wall erosion. This contrasts with the wall perforation mechanism described for other mycophagous amoebae. Ultrastructural studies of trophozoites showed that large quantities of electron dense granules were released into the digestive vacuoles during fungal cell lysis. These were incorporated into the amoebal protoplast. Bacteria were commonly present in the amoebal protoplasts and within digestive vacuoles. Their possible role as endosymbionts is discussed.