title: The giant of Oxytricha bifaria: A peculiar cell differentiation triggered and controlled by cell to cell contacts.
abstract: The heteromorphic life cycle of the freshwater hypotrich Oxytricha bifaria comprehends at least 3 phases: conjugating pairs, resting cysts and carnivorous giants. The gigantic forms represent unique adaptive devices which enable the species to survive in a certain environment when the normal bacterial food is exhausted. In this report several results are described which deal with the nature of the mechanisms underlying giant formation: (a) only cell to cell contacts (not species-specific) occurring among living specimens trigger this differentiation; (b) the higher the number of cells per ml, the shorter the "induction period", namely the time lag between the onset of the inducing conditions and the formation of the first giant; (c) it is now possible to separate and to distinguish experimentally, within the "induction period", two successive steps, namely "activation" and "predation"; (d) also the already-differentiated-giants (the so-called steadystate-giants) need cell to cell contacts to maintain their cell differentiation. The "Labile Memory Counter" hypothesis is proposed and discussed.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze dell'Ambiente e del Territorio, Gruppo di Protistologia, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ricci
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Grandini
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bravi
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Banchetti