Stentor

Charles Krebs · Post by **Charles Krebs** » Thu Dec 21, 2006 11:15 pm

Stentor with cilia "frozen" by electronic flash. This one looks like it's had a good day "grazing".

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Fri Dec 22, 2006 12:15 am

Charlie,

Can you explain a bit about the anatomy of these beasts? In the picture, the cilia have sort of a front-like appearance. It looks as if there may be groups of cilia, with their bottoms bundled together into a thick trunk, while their ends splay out in some organized fashion. Is that really what they do, or is it the appearance somehow introduced by the photography? I guess I could imagine multiple quick flashes producing this appearance, but that seems unlikely. Have you run into any electron micrography pictures that bear on the question?

--Rik

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Fri Dec 22, 2006 3:26 am

I too was wondering the same thing Charlie

. I know that the 9+2 configurationf of the microtubules, located in the basal body, cause the cilia to rotate or beat in a whip like fashion and I am assuming that this is being demonstrated in what we see here, with that thick looking base and feathery like appearance of the cilia. In a way they appear more like cirri than cilia.

Beautiful photograph!

Charles Krebs · Post by **Charles Krebs** » Fri Dec 22, 2006 8:29 am

Rik and Ken... they are cirri, multiple cilia fused together at the base. Sort of like a simple straw broom, bound together at the base but whipping about individually at the end. Must make for a relatively powerful "feeding current".

bernhardinho · Post by **bernhardinho** » Fri Dec 22, 2006 11:38 am

Hi folks,

Stentor belongs to the Spirotricha/heterotricha. It thus features a AZM and the cilia of the peristome are referred to as membranelles (see Patterson p. 107). To my knowledge, only the hypotrichs do feature cirri, but I'm willing to learn!!

Bernhard

beetleman · Post by **beetleman** » Fri Dec 22, 2006 2:52 pm

Way above my head for now, but the picture is fantastic Charles...a
lot to see and learn from everyone.

Charles Krebs · Post by **Charles Krebs** » Fri Dec 22, 2006 3:23 pm

Bernhard... I want to get the terminology correct as well. Looking into it more, I think you are correct. So we should call it the "adoral zone of membranelles"... but there are many references to "fused cilia" and cirri in regards to stentor.
A quick google found these (which, of course doesn't make it correct

):
http://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Stentor
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0003-0 ... size=LARGE
http://www.micrographia.com/specbiol/pr ... te0100.htm
http://www.micrographia.com/specbiol/pr ... entr14.htm
http://staff.jccc.net/pdecell/protista/ciliophora.html
http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/ind ... stent.html

(The second link looks very interesting... but it is "pay for view" for the whole article)

bernhardinho · Post by **bernhardinho** » Sat Dec 23, 2006 5:59 am

Hi Charles,

I see what you mean; well, after Chriatmas I'll dig in a bit deeper into my literature: Let's see if we can sort this out. But, regardless to how they're called (what's in a name!), they're certainly impressive to watch, aren't they?

Bernhard