ISSN:
0192-253X
Keywords:
tetrahymena
;
mating type
;
differentiation
;
macronucleus
;
starvation
;
Life and Medical Sciences
;
Genetics
Source:
Wiley InterScience Backfile Collection 1832-2000
Topics:
Biology
Notes:
Mating type differentiation in Tetrahymena thermophila is known to regularly involve stable hereditary alterations at a single chromosomal locus in the somatic (macro)nucleus. This differentiation is directionally affected by the temperature at which new macronuclei develop after fertilization. We now report large and predictable effects of delayed refeeding of conjugating pairs upon mating type differentiation, particularly among mat-2 homozygotes. The mating types whose frequency is affected the most are IV, VI, and VII, a set different from that most affected by temperature. We interpret our observations to reveal the existence of a second system which can participate in mating type differentiation, with different specificity from the system influenced by temperature under conditions of early refeeding of conjugating pairs. These observations enrich the phenomenology surrounding mating type differentiation in T thermophila and provide additional, easily controllable experimental conditions for the manipulation of mating type frequencies.
Additional Material:
4 Ill.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/dvg.1020040302
