STUDIES ON THE AMOEBA-TO-FLAGELLATE TRANSFORMATION OF TETRAMITUS ROSTRATUS

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The amoebae of Tetramitus rostratus growing with Escherichia coli were inoculated into a yeast peptone broth and a potassium phosphate buffer solution, and flagellate formation was studied. In both, the numbers of flagellates formed and their proportional incidence increased with the number of amoebae inoculated. In buffer the numbers of flagellates reached a peak at 10 hours, and in broth at 23 hours.Comparisons between the buffer and broth, using the same inoculum, indicated that population density is only one factor governing flagellate formation, since this transformation was greater in buffer for a given population.Replacement of E. coli with four other monoxenic associates indicated that bacterial flora makes little difference in buffer on flagellate transformation, as flagellates were formed with all four genera. A search for a "flagellating substance" produced in the medium or within the cells was not successful.