An Analysis of the Role of Electromagnetic Radiations in the Mating Reaction of Paramecium bursaria

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Abstract
Diurnal rhythmicity of mating reactivity in chlorella-less or normal animals of Paramecium bursaria. Variety 1, persists under constant conditions in total darkness for as long as a week. Rhythmicity can be shifted by appropriate illumination during sensitive periods. Illumination during the early part of a reactive period causes an increase in reactivity, and during the late part, a decrease. Animals illuminated during a reactive period are more reactive in the next reactive period than those retained in darkness. Illumination during a non-reactive period causes decreased reactivity in the following period. The action spectrum for increase in reactivity in the early reactive period, with characteristic peaks in the visible at ca. 450 m[mu] and in the near u.-v. at ca. 365 m[mu],, suggests that the photoreceptor is a flavin. Increase in reactivity also follows for u.-v. and X-ray irradiation, but differences in exposure time required and in reaction magnitude obtained suggest that the change is mediated through another mechanism. Higher dosages of both u.-v. and X-rays as well as intense flashes of visible light, induce autoagglutination (the sticking together of animals of the same mating type). A working hypothesis is developed relating to release and production of the mating substance; it is inferred that the former process is increased by illumination, the latter inhibited by it. Possible but highly speculative relationships between mating substance and auto-agglutination substance are also considered.