Axenic cultivation of the anaerobic free-living ciliate Trimyema compressum.
The strain N of Trimyema compressum, an anaerobic free-living ciliate, was cultivated axenically in a medium containing a buffered salt solution, yeast extract, trypticase, and glutathione. Dead bacteria were indispensable as food; a culture of the ciliate together with heat-killed Klebsiella pneumoniae has been established for more than one year. In the medium described, the ciliates grow to a higher cell density than in cultures with living bacteria as food. During the process of axenization, a nonmethanogenic bacterial endosymbiont was lost. In the microbodies of T. compressum, hydrogenase could be localized by the technique of indirect immunofluorescence.
Broers
C A
CA
Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Science, University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Stumm
C K
CK
Vogels
G D
GD
D000693:Anaerobiosis; D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000254:growth & development; D016798:Ciliophora / Q000201:enzymology / Q000254:growth & development*; D003470:Culture Media; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D005856:Germ-Free Life; D006864:Hydrogenase / Q000032:analysis; D013559:Symbiosis
D003470:Culture Media; D006864:Hydrogenase