Chemotaxis in Tetrahymena thermophila

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Abstract
The motility pattern of Tetrahymena thermophila in a homogeneous attractant field consists of successive “runs” and “turns.” The turning frequency decreases or increases upon an abrupt increase in attractant or repellent concentration, respectively. The dose‐response curve for leucine and methionine yields a saturation curve with half maximum modulation of the turning frequency at a concentration of 15 μM and 2 μM, respectively. The turning frequency is modulated at a threshold concentration of 0.02 μM and 0.50 μM for leucine and methionine, respectively. The decrease (increase) in turning frequency in the presence of an attractant (repellent) jump reverts to prestimulus frequency in a time proportional to the concentration jump. Hence, Tetrahymena seem to employ temporal‐gradient sensing for chemotaxis. Spatial‐gradient taxis is thus exerted by random walk, which is biased in the direction of the gradient.