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1 November 2002 Variability of Autogamy-Maturation Pattern in Genetically Identical Populations of Paramecium tetraurelia
Rie Komori, Terue Harumoto, Hiromi Fujisawa, Yoshiomi Takagi
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Abstract

Autogamy in Paramecium tetraurelia is a form of sexual reproduction in a single cell that results in homozygosity in every genetic locus. Autogamy becomes inducible by natural starvation several fissions after the previous autogamy, and percent autogamy increases gradually with clonal age to reach 100%. We here report the degree of variability of the autogamy-maturation pattern, and how it is inherited through autogamous generations. We assessed the autogamy-maturation pattern by monitoring percent autogamy at the ages of 9, 18 and 27 fissions in the wild-type stock 51. To determine how the autogamy-maturation pattern is inherited, clones that showed the lowest and the highest percent autogamy at age 18 in a given autogamous generation (Gn) were examined for their percent autogamy in the next autogamous generation (Gn 1). This procedure was repeated through successive autogamous generations. We found that percent autogamy at ages 9 and 27 was rather stable (low and high, respectively), while it was extremely variable at age 18 ranging from 3% to 100%. We also found that percent autogamy at age 18 in the progeny clones was variable irrespective of percent autogamy at age 18 in the parental clones; there was no regular rule such as producing progeny with higher (or lower) percent autogamy from parents with lower (or higher) percent autogamy.

Rie Komori, Terue Harumoto, Hiromi Fujisawa, and Yoshiomi Takagi "Variability of Autogamy-Maturation Pattern in Genetically Identical Populations of Paramecium tetraurelia," Zoological Science 19(11), 1245-1249, (1 November 2002). https://doi.org/10.2108/zsj.19.1245
Received: 7 May 2002; Accepted: 1 August 2002; Published: 1 November 2002
KEYWORDS
autogamy-immaturity
clonal age
inheriting pattern
sexual maturation
variability
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