Locomotion and feeding of Acanthamoeba at the water-air interface of ponds.
Acanthamoeba trophozoites attach to and effect amoeboid locomotion at the water-air interface of ponds. Their locomotory rate (approximately 0.8 microm s(-1)) and manner of independent movement at this interface is similar to that over solid substrata. Adhesion forces developed between amoebae and the water-air interface are greater than gravity and thus amoebae are also transported passively without detachment. Amoebae docked with the water-air interface remain and flourish here as they are shown, by using green fluorescent protein-labelled Aeromonas hydrophila, to feed on bacteria that occur at the interface, digesting them intracellularly.
Preston
T M
TM
Biology Department, University College London, Gower Street, WC1E 6BT, London, UK. t.preston@ucl.ac.uk
Richards
H
H
Wotton
R S
RS
D000048:Acanthamoeba / Q000502:physiology*; D000388:Air; D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000378:metabolism; D014867:Water
D014867:Water