Abstract
Due to the lack of an emergent flagellum the green flagellate Euglena mutabilis is restricted to gliding motility. During forward movement, the organisms orient positive phototactically in the presence of a suitable light stimulus. The cell contains both a stigma and a paraflagellar body which differ in shape and size from the organelles found in E. gracilis. The degree of orientation in white light follows an optimum curve with a maximum at about 100 lx. The spectral sensitivity shows a number of prominent peaks in the blue and green regions and extends well into the red region of the visible spectrum. Since the cell does not rotate during locomotion a periodic shading mechanism cannot account for phototactic orientation. Thus, phototaxis in the related species, E. gracilis and E. mutabilis differ in their photoreceptor molecules, their sensory transduction chains and their strategies of light direction detection.
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Dedicated to Prof. Dr. H. A. von Stosch on the occasion of his 75th birthday
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Häder, DP., Melkonian, M. Phototaxis in the gliding flagellate, Euglena mutabilis . Arch. Microbiol. 135, 25–29 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00419477
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00419477