SYNOPTIC DESCRIPTION OF THE PHYLUM CILIOPHORA (DOFLEIN 1901)
| EUKARYA> CHROMALVEOLATA> ALVEOLATAE> CILIOPHORA |
CILIOPHORA LINKS
| Description of the phylum is taken from Kudo (1966), Grell (1976), Corliss (1979), Small and Lynn (1985), Sleigh et al. (1984), and Lynn and Small (1990 and 2000), and Margulis and Schwartz (1988 and 1998). |
I. SYNONYMS: Ciliates, ciliophora.
II. NUMBER: >7500 species (>1,100 genera).
III. PHYLUM CHARACTERISTICS:
- A. Structure and Physiology
- Cell Form: Unicellular
- Flagella: Cells covered by short, uniform flagella ( cilia (text with tooltip) Cilia are eukaryotic flagella that operate by coordinated beats relative to each other. Structurally, cilia and flagella are identical (i.e. 9+2 axoneme from a basal body with associated flagellar roots). Usually cilia are shorter and more numerous than typical flagella. Also, they have an underlying structure of flagellar roots (kineties) that allow for coordination of the flagella. ) in longitudinal rows called kineties (text with tooltip) Kineties (kinety) provide the underlying structure of flagellar roots found in ciliates (and others like the pseudociliata) and allow for coordination of the flagella. ; usually in pairs (called dikinetids) or singly (monokinetids). Sometimes modified to cirri (text with tooltip) Cirri (cirrus, sing.) are tendril-like structures. They occur on the terminal segments of some insects and crustaceans. They are the feeding structures of barnacles, respiratory and copulatory structures in annelids. Cirri also serve as copulatory structures in some mollusks and flatworms. and membranelles (text with tooltip) Membranelles are structures that resemble undulating membranes, however, they are formed by the lateral fusion of many flagella-cilia. .
- Basal Bodies: Basal bodies parallel (text with tooltip) Basal bodies are parallel when their orientation relative to each other is parallel. and connected by a complex infraciliature which contributes to a complex pellicle (text with tooltip) A pellicle is a complex outer cellular covering that occurs within the bounds of the plasmalemma. Often synonymous with the term theca, a pellicle defines such groups as the euglenoid-kinetoplastid clade amd the Kingdom Alveolatae. .
- Cell Covering: Pleated pellicle; usually with a cytostome (text with tooltip) Cytostome (literally cell mouth) is a permanent opening into the cell into which food particles move and are incorporated into food vacuoles. which may lie on the cell surface or in a depression.
- Chloroplasts: Not present.
- Food Reserves: Not reported.
- Mitochondria: Tubular cristae (text with tooltip) Mitochondrial cristae that form as extended saccate structures or tubes are called tubular cristae. .
- Golgi (text with tooltip) Golgi apparatus (also called dictyosome) is an internal membrane system of stacked flattened sacs. They occur in nearly all eukaryotes and are involved in storing and secreting cellular products. : Present but with relatively few sacs.
- Nucleus: Two types: a diploid micronucleus (text with tooltip) The micronucleus is a diploid nucleus of ciliates. This nucleus participates in meiosis and mitosis. and a polyploid macronucleus (text with tooltip) The macronucleus is a polyploid nucleus of ciliates. This nucleus participates in operation and maintenance of the cell. .
- Centrioles: Not reported.
- Inclusions and Ejectile Organelles: Trichocysts (text with tooltip) Trichocysts are extrusosomes that also are characteristic of the ciliates and dinoflagellates. They can discharge and serve almost as an organelle equivalent to the nematocyst. However, their particular functions have yet to be defined to my satisfaction. , mucocysts (text with tooltip) A mucocyst (also called mucus body, muciferous body, mucus trichocyst) is an organelle or inclusion that extrudes mucus. , toxicysts and food vacuoles.
- B. Mitosis, Meiosis and Life History
- Mitosis: Micronucleus closed (text with tooltip) Mitosis is closed when the segregation of daughter chromosomes occurs within the bounds of the nuclear membrane (the nuclear membrane does not break down). with an intranuclear spindle (text with tooltip) An intranuclear spindle elaborates within the nuclear membrane of an organism with closed mitosis. ; macronucleus by fragmentation or amitosis. Cytokinesis across the kinities. Micronuclear chromosomes with kinetochores (text with tooltip) A kinetochore is also called a centromere, the point on a chromosome to which the spindle fibers attach. .
- Meiosis: Micronucleus capable of meiosis.
- Sexual Reproduction and Life History: Diploids with gametic meiosis (text with tooltip) Gametic meiosis occurs when gametes are the immediate results of meiosis. ; conjugation by exchange of nuclei. Cysts (text with tooltip) A cyst is a resting stage that is covered by a resistant outer covering. Usually, cysts are able to allow the cell to survive environmental extremes. They serve as the infective forms of parasitic protists. Usually in sexual microbial eukaryotic groups, the cyst is produced by the zygote. in some.
- C. Ecology: Freshwater to marine; free-living to parasitic.
| LITERATURE CITED Baldauf, S. L. 2003a. The deep roots of eukaryotes. Science. 300 (5626): 1701-1703. Cavalier-Smith, T. 1993. Kingdom protozoa and its 18 Phyla. Microbiological Reviews. 57: 953-994. Corliss, J. O. 1979. The ciliated protozoa: characterization, classification, and guide to the literature. 2nd ed. Pergamon Press. Oxford and New York. Gajadhar, A. A., W. C. Marquardt, R. Hall, J. Gunderson, E. V. A. Carmona, and M. L. Sogin. 1991. Ribosomal RNA sequences of Sarcocystis muris, Theileria annulata, and Crypthecodinium cohnii reveal evolutionary relationships among apicomplexans, dinoflagellates, and ciliates. Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology. 45:147-154. Grell, K. G. 1973. Protozoology. Springer-Verlag. New York. Kudo, R.R. 1966. Protozoology. 5th ed. Charles C. Thomas Publisher. Springfield. Lynn, D. H. 2008. The Ciliated Protozoa. 3rd edition. Springer Verlag. Berlin. pp. 606. Lynn, D. H. and E. B. Small. 1990. Ciliophora. In: Margulis, L., J. O. Corliss, M. Melkonian, and D. J. Chapman, eds. 1990. Handbook of the Protoctista; the structure, cultivation, habits and life histories of the eukaryotic microorganisms and their descendants exclusive of animals, plants and fungi. Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Boston. pp. 498-523. Lynn, D. H. and E. B. Small. 2000. Phylum Ciliophora. In: Lee, J. J., Leedale, G. F. and Bradbury, P., eds. An Illustrated Guide to the Protozoa, Second Edition, vol. 1. Society of Protozoologists, Lawrence, Kansas. pp. 656-689. Margulis, L. and K. Schwartz. 1988. Five kingdoms, an illustrated guide to the phyla of life on earth. 2nd Edition. W.H. Freeman and Co. New York. Margulis, L. and K. Schwartz. 1998. Five kingdoms, an illustrated guide to the phyla of life on earth. 3rd Edition. W. H. Freeman and Company. New York. Patterson, D. J. 1999. The diversity of eukaryotes. American Naturalist. 154 (Suppl.): S96–S124. Sleigh, M. A., J. D. Dodge and D. J. Patterson. 1984. Kingdom Protista. In: Barnes, R.K.S., ed. A Synoptic Classification of Living Organisms. Sinauer Associates, Inc. Sunderland, Mass. Small, E. B. and D. H. Lynn. 1985. Phylum Ciliophora. In: Lee, J.J., S.H. Hunter, and E.C. Bovee, eds. An Illustrated Guide to the Protozoa. Allen Press. Lawrence, Kansas. pp. 393-575. Taylor, F. J. R. 1976. Flagellate Phylogeny: A Study in Conflicts. Journal of Protozoology. 23: 28-40. Taylor, F. J. R. 1999. Ultrastructure as a control for protistan molecular phylogeny. The American Naturalist. 154(supplement): S125-S136. |
| By Jack R. Holt. Last revised: 02/16/2012 |
