Extranuclear DNA and the endosymbionts of Paramecium aurelia

Isolation of intracellular symbiotes by immune lysis of flagellate protozoa and characterization of their DNA

A new method dependent on immune lysis is described for the isolation of intracellular symbiotes from two species of flagellate protozoa Blastocrithidia culicis and Crithidia oncopelti. The symbiote-containing flagellates are exposed to complement and antisera prepared in rabbits against symbiote-free organisms. The immune lysis seems to weaken the plasma membranes of the flagellates so that subsequent application of gentle shearing force liberates the intracellular entities in an undamaged condition. The symbiotes are then separated from other cellular components by DNAse digestion and differential centrifugation. The average recovery of symbiotes isolated by this method is 20%. Light and electron microscopy establishes the structural integrity and numerical abundance of isolated symbiotes in the final fractions. Integrity of symbiotes is further indicated by the high activity of a marker enzyme, uroporphyrinogen I synthetase. The DNA's of symbiote-containing and symbiote-free flagellates, and of isolated symbiotes were purified and compared after isopycnic centrifugation. The comparison establishes the presence of DNA's in symbiotes of both species. The guanine-cytosine (G-C) content of symbiote DNA differs from that of host DNA's in C. oncopelti, but resembles that of kinetoplast DNA in B. culicis. The latter observation was further shown by heat denaturation study. Renaturation kinetics indicate that the genome complexity of symbiote DNA in B. culicis is similar to that of bacteria.

Kappa and other endosymbionts in Paramecium aurelia

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Further studies on the maintenance of mate-killer (mu) particles in Stock 540 Paramecium aurelia

1. Mu particles can be removed from stock 540Paramecium aureliaby incubation in a solution of 1·0 mg/ml RNAase for 12 h. Only a relatively small percentage of cells become mu-free and it is suggested that this variation is due to the activity of the M genes producing metagons at different times.

2. Paramecia, made mu-free by growth at elevated temperatures, can be re-infected with mu by allowing the cells to swim in a brei of stock 540 paramecia. The re-infection is only permanently successful with cells that were made mu-free 10 days earlier.