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.
Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Science, University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
C A
CA
Broers
C K
CK
Stumm
G D
GD
Vogels
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