The Biology of Stentor

International Series of Monographs on Pure and Applied Biology: Zoology

1st Edition - January 1, 1961
Author: Vance Tartar
Editor: G. A. Kerkut
Language: English
eBook ISBN:
9 7 8 - 1 - 4 8 3 1 - 6 4 5 6 - 4

The Biology of Stentor summarizes all that has been learned about the biology of a certain group of ciliate protozoa: the stentors. Topics covered range from form and function in… Read more

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The Biology of Stentor summarizes all that has been learned about the biology of a certain group of ciliate protozoa: the stentors. Topics covered range from form and function in Stentor to behavior, fine structure, growth and division, and reorganization. Regeneration is also discussed, along with polarity, metabolism, genetics, and primordium development. This volume is comprised of 20 chapters and begins with a characterization of Stentor, with emphasis on its particular advantages in addressing general problems of biology. The reader is then introduced to form and function in Stentor, particularly S. coeruleus. The following chapters focus on the behavior (food selection, swimming, response to light, etc.) of stentors and the fine points of structure in terms of which this behavior is to be explained and which demonstrate the highly complex and precise achievements of morphogenesis. The remaining chapters explore growth and division in Stentor as well as the course of reorganization and regeneration; development of the oral primordium and how it is activated and inhibited; rate of regeneration in relation to the polar axis; fusion masses of whole stentors; and reconstitution in disarranged stentors. Various species of Stentor are also described, together with the techniques used to study them. The final chapter deals with hypotheses concerning the morphogenesis of ciliates. This book will be of interest to students and practitioners of biology and physiology.

Preface

I Introduction

II Form and Function in Stentor

III Behavior

1. Food Selection

2. Swimming

3. Avoiding Reaction and Learning

4. Response to Light

5. Response to Heat and Electric Current

6. The Question of Sensory Cilia

7. Cystment

IV Fine Structure

1. Feeding Organelles

(a) Frontal Field

(b) Oral Pouch

(c) Membranellar Band

(d) Gullet

2. Holdfast

3. Cytopyge

4. Contractile Vacuole

5. Cortical Structure

(a) The Cell Surface

(b) Granular Stripes; Nature of the Pigment and Granules

(c) Clear Stripes and Their Fiber Systems

(d) Fiber Systems of Doubtful Status

(e) The Cilia

6. Fine Structure of the Nuclei

7. The Endoplasm

V Growth and Division

1. Growth

2. The Course of Normal Division

3. Nature and Location of the Fission Line

4. Incitement to Division

5. Persistence of Division

VI Reorganization

1. The Course of Reorganization

2. Analysis of the Reorganization Process

3. Stimulus to Reorganization and the Significance of this Process

(a) To Replace Defective Mouthparts

(b) Response to Change in the Medium

(c) Need for Nuclear Reorganization

(d) For Growth of the Adoral Band

(e) Need for Adjustment of Nuclear Dimensions

VII Regeneration

1. The Course of Regeneration

(a) Oral Regeneration and its Requirements

(b) Regeneration of the Holdfast

(c) Reconstitution of the Normal Shape

2. Nuclear Behavior during Regeneration

3. Effective Stimulus to Regeneration

4. Time for Regeneration

5. Minimum Size of Regenerating Fragments

6. Adjustments to Proportionality of Parts

7. Can Mouthparts and Membranelles be Formed In Situ

8. Repeated Oral Regeneration

9. Blockage of Regeneration

VIII Activation and Inhibition of the Oral Primordium

1. The Course and Spectrum of Cell Interactions

2. Timing the Period of Activation

3. Relation of the Macronucleus to Activation and Inhibition

4. Relation of Intact Feeding Organelles to Activation and Inhibition

5. Synchronization of Developing Primordia

6. Activation in Reorganizers and Dividers

7. Rerouting the Oral Primordium

IX Primordium Development

1. Normal Location and Development of the Primordium

2. Primordium Development under Abnormal Conditions

3. Determination, or the Progressive Specification of the Oral Anlage

4. Induction of Mouthparts Formation

5. Repair, Mending, and Joining of Primordia

X The Primordium in Relation to the Stripe Pattern

1. Nature of the Normal Primordium Site

2. Production of Supernumerary Primordia

3. Abnormal Primordia Correlated with Abnormal Striping

4. Primordium Formation in Loci of Minor Stripe Contrast

5. Competition among Loci of Stripe Contrast; Regeneration and Obliteration of Primordium Sites

6. Exceptions

XI Polarity

1. Fixity of Structural Polarity

2. Rate of Regeneration in Relation to the Polar Axis

3. Gradients in Head and Tail Formation

XII Fusion Masses of Whole Stentors

1. Simple Masses and Biotypes

2. Adjustments among Formed Ectoplasmic Organelles

3. Larger Masses and Reduction of Oral Valency

4. Incomplete Oral Differentiation

5. Absence of Fission

6. Tubes and Ciliated Vacuoles

XIII Reconstitution in Disarranged Stentors

1. Minced Stentors

2. Other Disarrangements of the Normal Cell Pattern

XIV Analysis of Stentor through its Response to External Agents

1. Action of the Membranellar Band

2. Coordination of Body Cilia

3. Ciliary Anæsthesia

4. Anæsthesia of Myonemes

5. Comparison of Osmotic Effects to Cooling

6. Acceleration of Division

7. Changes in State of the Protoplasm

8. Tests for an Antero-Posterior Metabolic Gradient

9. Acquired Tolerance to External Agents

10. Shedding of Pigment and Pellicle

11. Shedding of the Membranellar Band

12. Morphogenetic Effects

13. Inhibition of Growth by X-Ray, and Other Effects

14. Effect of Temperature on Size

XV Metabolism

1. Effects of Starvation

2. Storage and Utilization of Nutrient Reserves

3. Respiration

4. Digestion

5. Symbiosis with Green Algae

6. Parasites of Stentor

7. Abnormal Stentors

(a) Depigmented Stentors

(b) Over-Pigmented Stentors

(c) Amorphous Stentors

XVI Behavior and Functions of the Nucleus

1. Location of the Macronucleus

2. Clumping of the Nucleus

3. Nodulation

4. Equivalence of Macronuclear Nodes

5. Shape, Size and Number of Nuclear Nodes

6. Control of Nuclear Behavior

7. Necessity of the Nucleus for Oral Redifferentiation

8. Reconstitution of Shape in Relation to the Nucleus

9. Functioning and Re-Formation of Vacuole and Holdfast in Enucleates

10. Behavior of Enucleates

11. Digestion in Enucleates

12. Survival of Enucleates

13. Consequences of Excess Nucleus

14. Consequences of Reduced Nucleus

15. Delayed Renucleation

XVII Toward a Genetics of Stentor

1. Interspecific Chimeras and Nuclear Transplantations

2. Racial Differences

3. Conjugation

XVIII Species of Stentor

XIX Techniques

1. Collecting

2. Culturing

3. Survival on Slides

4. Staining

5. Cutting Methods

6. Grafting

7. Minceration

8. Enucleation and Renucleation

XX Extensions

1. Stentor and Other Ciliates

2. Hypotheses concerning Morphogenesis of Ciliates

3. Stentors and Cells

4. Stentor and Metazoa

5. Theoretical Considerations

Bibliography of Stentor

Other References Cited

Author Index

Subject Index