Journal
MICROORGANISMS
Volume 8, Issue 2, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms8020162
Keywords
amicronucleate cells; ciliate; conjugation; Euplotes raikovi; life cycle
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Funding
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [31922013, 31772428, 31672279]
- Marine S&T Fund of Shandong Province for Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (Qingdao) [2018SDKJ0406-1]
- Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [201841013]
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Ciliates form a distinct group of single-celled eukaryotes that host two types of nuclei (micro and macronucleus) in the same cytoplasm and have a special sexual process known as conjugation, which involves mitosis, meiosis, fertilization, nuclear differentiation, and development. Due to their high species diversity, ciliates have evolved different patterns of nuclear events during conjugation. In the present study, we investigate these events in detail in the marine species Euplotes raikovi. Our results indicate that: (i) conjugation lasts for about 50 h, the longest stage being the development of the new macronucleus (ca. 36 h); (ii) there are three prezygotic micronuclear divisions (mitosis and meiosis I and II) and two postzygotic synkaryon divisions; and (iii) a fragment of the parental macronucleus fuses with the new developing macronucleus. In addition, we describe for the first time conjugation in amicronucleate E. raikovi cells. When two amicronucleate cells mate, they separate after about 4 h without evident nuclear changes; when one amicronucleate cell mates with a micronucleate cell, the micronucleus undergoes regular prezygotic divisions to form migratory and stationary pronuclei, but the two pronuclei fuse in the same cell. In the amicronucleate cell, the parental macronucleus breaks into fragments, which are then recovered to form a new functional macronucleus. These results add new information on the process of conjugation in both micronucleate and amicronucleate Euplotes cells.
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