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The World of Protozoa, Rotifera, Nematoda and Oligochaeta

Ref ID : 7608

Rosalba Banchetti and Nicola Ricci; The Doublet of Oxytricha bifaria (Ciliata, Hypotrichida) I. Morphology and Development. Protistologica XXII(2):161-168, 1986

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Homopolar doublets of the hypotrichous ciliate Oxytricha bifaria arose spontaneously in laboratory cultures. Once formed, the doublet follows a developmental path, characterized by five successive morphologically different stages: it leads the doublet again to the normal morphology of the species. Several traits of each stage were analyzed: a) the relative spatial arrangement of the two incomplete cells forming the doublet itself, b) the motile behaviour, c) the nuclear apparatus, d) the cell cycle, if any, and e) the relative, percentual frequency, as a parameter possibly indicating the corresponding biological stability. The integrated drawing of the doublet of O. bifaria, emerging from these studies, indicates that it constitutes a state not indefinitely stable and that is possible role in the adaptive biology of O. bifaria is still to be clarified.