Abstract The rumen harbours countless bacteria, archaea, ciliated protozoa, fungi and viruses: various microorganisms that have established multiplicity of relationships to efficiently digest complex plant fibres polysaccharides produce volatile fatty acids (VFAs), microbial proteins vitamins, essentials for the host’s health, growth performances. Recent studies using omics-based techniques rev...

This review analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of using eukaryotic microorganisms to design whole-cell biosensors (WCBs) for monitoring environmental heavy metal pollution in soil or aquatic habitats. Basic considerations for designing a eukaryotic WCB are also shown. A comparative analysis of the promoter genes used to design WCBs is carried out, and the sensitivity and reproducibility ...

The presence of opioid, beta-adrenergic and cholinergic receptors has been demonstrated in ciliated protozoa, but little is known about gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptors. In this study we have analyzed the distribution of GABA(A)-type receptor subunits in Paramecium. Confocal laser microscopy using antibodies specific for alpha(1)-, alpha(2)-, alpha(3)-, alpha(6)-, beta(2/3)-, gamma(2)-,...

The nitrogen composition and metabolism of the typical animal microorganisms are relatively unknown. This is true largely because of the past unavailability of the Protozoa either in pure culture or in synthetic media. The ciliated protozoan, Tetrahymena geleii, is unique in that it has been available in pure culture for some time and recently (1949) it has been grown in synthetic medium (2). I...

INTRODUCTION Ciliated protozoa play important roles in aquatic ecosystems especially regarding their functions in micro-food web and have many advantages in environmental assessment compared with most other eukaryotic organisms. The aims of this study were focused on analyzing the application of an indicator based on taxonomic relatedness of ciliated protozoan assemblages for marine environment...

The ciliated protozoa divide the labor of germline and somatic genetic functions between two distinct nuclei. The development of the somatic (macro-) nucleus from the germinal (micro-) nucleus occurs during sexual reproduction and involves large-scale, genetic reorganization including site-specific chromosome breakage and DNA deletion. This intriguing process has been extensively studied in Tet...

Dolan and McKeon (2005) have recently criticized microzooplankton grazing rate estimates by the dilution approach as being systematically biased and significantly overestimated. Their argument is based on observed mortality responses of ciliated protozoa to reduced food in several coastal experiments and a global extrapolation which assumes that all grazing in all ocean systems scales to the ab...

Numerous papers have been published which deal with the occurrence of heavy metals in the various components of freshwater ecosystems (Radwan et al. 1990; Scanferlato and Cairns 1990; Hintelmann et al. 1993) and sewage treatment systems (Yetis and Gokcay 1989; Cimino and Caristi 1990; Dilek and Yetis 1992; Melcer et al. 1992; Moriyama et al. 1992). However, only a few papers refer to the presen...

Ciliated protozoa harbor two different types of nuclei in each cell. The diploid micronucleus is the transcriptionally inactive generative nucleus, while the macronuclous contains a highly amplified transcriptionally active genome of lower complexity. The macronuclear genes encoding the two largest subunits of both RNA polymerases I and II of Euplotes octocarinatus were identified by a novel me...

Genome duality in ciliated protozoa offers a unique system to showcase their epigenome as a model of inheritance. In Oxytricha, the somatic genome is responsible for vegetative growth, whereas the germline contributes DNA to the next sexual generation. Somatic nuclear development removes all transposons and other so-called "junk" DNA, which comprise ~95% of the germline. We demonstrate that Piw...