MORPHOLOGY OF MASTIGAMOEBA ASPERA SCHULZE, 1875
(ARCHAMOEBAE, PELOBIONTIDA)
L.V. Chystjakova,1,* O.A. Miteva,2 A.O. Frolov 2
1 St. Petersburg State University, Department of Invertebrate Zoology,
and 2 Zoological Institute RAS, St. Petersburg;
* e-mail: batsnwr@mail.ru
The morphology of Mastigamoeba aspera, a type species of the genus Mastigamoeba Schulze, 1875, has
been investigated at the light- and electron-microscopical level. Motile individuals are oval or peach-shaped.
Motile flagella is situated at the anterior end of uninucleate cells. During locomotion, the surface of mastigamoebes
forms many conical or finger-shaped hyaline pseudopodia, wereas bulbous uroid is often formed at the
posterior end of the cel l . Micropopulations of M. aspera consist of uninucleate flagellate forms as well as multinucleate
aflagellate ones. There is a thick layer of glycocalix on the cell surface where many rod-shaped bacterial
ectobionts l ive. The nucleus is vesicular with spherical central nucleolus. The flagellar apparatus of M. aspera
is connected with nucleus to form so called kariomastigont. A single kinetosome is associated with many
radial microtubules and a lateral root. A distinct microtubule organization centre (MTOC) is situated at the basal
part of the kinetosome. Microtubules of the nuclear cone are connected with the MTOC. This microtubules take
part in the formation of kariomastigont. The axoneme has a standart set of microtubules 9(2)+2. Digestive vacuoles
are the main component of the cytoplasm of M. aspera. Beside, many light-difracted granules and glycogen
bodies were found in the cells. Mitochondria, dictyosomes of the Golgi apparatus and microbodies were not revealed
in the cytoplasm of M. aspera.
Key words: pelobionts, mastigamoebes, Mastigamoeba aspera, pelomyxes, ultrastructure
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