BY2012 Microbiology Gallery of Ciliates

Ciliates - Characteristics

Found almost everywhere – lakes, ponds, rivers, oceans, soils

Have short hair-like surface structures termed cilia

Have two types of nuclei – macronuclei (polyploid, general cell regulation) and micronuclei (diploid, reproduction)

Have contractile vacuoles that collect and expel excess water from cells to maintain osmotic pressure/ionic balance

Feed on bacteria, algae and detritus

SEMs of Different Genera of Ciliates2

1

3

54

6

7

8

1. Aspidisca 2. Loxocephalus 3. Colpoda 4. Blepharisma

5. Paramecium 6. Colpidium 7. Holosticha 8. Uronema

Paramecium – Ciliate

SEM

Paramecium – Ciliate

Posterior contractile

vacuole

Anterior contractile

vacuole

Food vacuole Macronucleus

Cilia

Oral grooveMicronucleusCytoproct Buccal cavity

with rows of cilia

TrichocystsCytostome

Oral vestibule

Paramecium caudatum

Phase contrast microscopy Nomarski differential interference contrast microscopy

Contractile vacuole

Macronucleus

Food vacuoles

Buccal cavity

Oral vestibule

Contractile vacuoles

Paramecium caudatum

Macronucleus

Contractile vacuole

Food vacuole

Cilia

Contractile vacuole

Paramecium

Contractile vacuole

Contractile vacuole

Macronucleus

Food vacuole

Paramecium

SEM showing cilia covering surface of Paramecium

Paramecium caudatum

Cilia

Oral vestibule

Anterior contractile

vacuole

Posterior contractile

vacuole

Macronucleus

Paramecium caudatum

Paramecia undergoing mitosis

Tetrahymena thermophila

A free-living ciliate in freshwater – macronuclear genome sequenced

CiliaMacronucleus

Oral vestibule

Hypotrichous Ciliates

Some ciliates possess tufts of cilia rather than cilia covering their complete surface and have fewer cilia than paramecia

Euplotes EuplotesEuplotes

Oxytricha fallax

A hypotrichous ciliate

Aspidisca

Colpidium colpoda

Oral vestibule

Contractile vacuole

Macronucleus

Macronucleus

Colpoda inflata

Uronema spp.

Blepharisma

Macronucleus

Holosticha

Stentor roseli

Stentor is a sessile ciliate, usually attached to algae or detritus, a filter feeder with a horn- or trumpet- shaped body with a ring of cilia (arrowed) around the mouth of the horn that sweeps particles into the horn

Macronucleus and Micronuclei of Paramecium

Two micronuclei are present in Paramecium

cilia

Micronuclei arrowed

Macronucleus and Micronucleus of Ciliates

Nomarski micrograph of Eudiplodinium - macronucleus (pink) micronucleus (red, arrowed)

Nomarski micrograph of Entodinium - macronucleus (pink) micronucleus (red, arrowed)

Micrograph of Paramecium - macronucleus (blue) micronuclei (blue dots, arrowed)- stained with DAPI

Macronucleus and Micronucleus of Stegotricha

Stegotricha stained with silver protein showing the micronucleus (M) situated anterior to macronucleus (Ma), a cytopharngeal structure (C) and the body surface covered by evenly spaced slightly oblique ciliary rows (K) (kineties)

Ma

MK