Nuclear differentiation in Paramecium tetraurelia. Transplantation of vegetative micronuclei into early exconjugants.
The micronucleus of Paramecium tetraurelia normally gives rise to the macronucleus by going through the series of nuclear events of meiosis, mitosis and fusion during sexual reproduction. By transplanting the micronucleus from vegetative cells into early exconjugants, we have persuaded the micronucleus to take a short cut to differentiate directly into a macronucleus. This demonstrates that the course of development of the micronucleus is flexible and can be altered by stage-specific cytoplasmic factors.
D000818:Animals; D002455:Cell Division; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000502:physiology*; D003227:Conjugation, Genetic; D053652:Nuclear Transfer Techniques; D010247:Paramecium / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D010641:Phenotype