APROCEAN

 Micro-organismos marinos y/o de agua dulce

tardibabe

I think I never made a detailed post about Paramecia! They’re model organisms that have been used in so many different studies, especially in behavioural and genetic researches but also in cell, molecular, and developmental biology. Paramecia are basically the white rats of ciliates! They’re part of the phylum Ciliophora, commonly called ciliates, since they’re covered in thousand of cilia beating together and enabling them to swim in different directions 😄

Paramecia can be found in wide range of habitats like ponds and lakes but also in marine environments and they aren’t dangerous for humans, just in case you were wondering 👀 Even if they’re only composed of a single cell, they can be spotted with the naked eye! They mostly feed on bacteria but some microalgae can be ingested as well 🌿

You might have observed in the videos that some Paramecia are glued together side by side, they’re actually exchanging some DNA in a process called conjugation, which is unique to ciliates! They create a cytoplasmic bridge

During conjugation, the cells are linked together by their oral region and a bridge between their cytoplasm is made so they can exchange genetic information and ultimately, increase genetic variability inside a population 😄 they basically make love by kissing each other 😂! Conjugation is a sexual phenomenon that is always followed by binary fission, a process by which the parental cell simply duplicates itself to create two identical daughter cells!

References:

Bell, G., & Graham, B. (1988). Sex and death in Protozoa: the history of obsession. Cambridge University Press.

H., Lynn, Denis (2008). The ciliated protozoa : characterization, classification, and guide to the literature. New York: Springer. 23.

Van Houten, J. (2019). Paramecium Biology. Evo-Devo: Non-model Species in Cell and Developmental Biology, 291-318.