Cell cycle and behaviour in Euplotes crassus: an attempt at describing the biological relationship between its cellular and organismic natures.
The two-faced nature of protozoa allowed us to study the relationship between cell cycle and behaviour in Euplotes crassus; the former represents one of the most typical cellular traits, the latter is one of the most significant characteristics of an organism. Dividing cells of E. crassus were isolated on a slide and recorded for 11 h: the classic ethographic parameters were calculated every 60 min. The percentage of mobile cells went from 0-100% in the first 2.5 h. This value was maintained for 6.5 h, but from 9 h the value began to drop, reaching 0% at 11 h. The relative frequency of leftward arcs was very high in the first hour, the radius and length of the arcs increased from 1-7 h; velocity showed a similar trend, peaking at 7 h. All our results showed that the behaviour of this ciliate is heavily affected by its cell-division cycle.
Banchetti
Rosalba
R
Department of Ethology, Ecology and Evolution, University of Pisa, Italy. rbanchetti@deee.unipi.it
Fosella
Tiziana
T
Vazzoloretto
Simona
S
Erra
Fabrizio
F
D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D002453:Cell Cycle; D016798:Ciliophora / Q000502:physiology; D016812:Euplotes / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors