Cytochemical studies of conjugation in Paramecium aurelia

Macronuclear DNA and total protein content variations inParamecium primaureliaexconjugant clones

“…At reactivity, associated with the different growth conditions, MDC and TPC values reach their minima (Fig. IB), similarly to what was found by Woodard et al (1966) in a comparison between vegetative and preconjugant cells of P. tetraurelia.…”

DNA amounts in the nuclei ofParamecium aurelia andTetrahymena pyriformis

“…Most of our data are compatible with a single micronuclear class, which we assume is G1, and for the macronuclei there are no signs of a doubling series but a rather wide scatter of DNA values. Without a reference DNA, there is no direct way of comparing our values with those of Woodward et al (1961Woodward et al ( , 1966. They did observe a MAC/MIC DNA ratio of 430, as did another group (Behme and Berger, 1970).…”

“…Two classes of micronuclear values were reported by Woodward et al (1961Woodward et al ( , 1966 and different classes of macronuclei occurred depending upon when the samples were taken. Most of our data are compatible with a single micronuclear class, which we assume is G1, and for the macronuclei there are no signs of a doubling series but a rather wide scatter of DNA values.…”

“…The relative amount of DNA in the macronucleus and micronucleus of a number of ciliated protozoa has been estimated, including Paramecium aurelia (Berger, 1969;Kimball, 1964;Woodward et al, 1961;Woodward et al, 1966) and Tetrahymena pyri/ormis (Cleffmann, 1968;Woodward et al, 1968;McDonald, 1971). Only in one study (Woodward et al, 1968) has a reference cell of known DNA amount been included so that the content of DNA in the two ciliate nuclei can be given in absolute amounts.…”

Immaturity, maturity and cell total protein content inParamecium primaurelia

“…A decrease in TPC of preconjugant cells with respect to vegetative cells was also observed in P. tetraurelia by Woodard et al (1966), and thought due to starving conditions which allow cells to become mating reactive. Nevertheless, the TPC in cell lines of the exautogamous clone is found to be still significantly lower (P < 0.001) than in cell lines yielded from conjugation (Table II).…”