Paramecium bursaria | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
(unranked): | Sar |
(unranked): | Alveolata |
Phylum: | Ciliophora |
Class: | Oligohymenophorea |
Order: | Peniculida |
Family: | Parameciidae |
Genus: | Paramecium |
Species: | P. bursaria |
Binomial name | |
Paramecium bursaria (Ehr., 1831) |
Paramecium bursaria is a species of ciliates that has a mutualistic endosymbiotic relationship with green algae called Zoochlorella. The algae live inside the Paramecium in its cytoplasm and provide it with food, while the Paramecium provides the algae with movement and protection. P. bursaria is 80-150 μm long, with a wide oral groove, two contractile vacuoles, and a single micronucleus as well as a single macronucleus. P. bursaria is the only species of Paramecium that forms symbiotic relationships with algae, and it is often used in biology classrooms both as an example of a protozoan and also as an example of symbiosis.
A transcriptome sequence is determined.
Blanc, Guillaume; Mozar, Michael; Agarkova, Irina V. (7 March 2014). "Deep RNA Sequencing Reveals Hidden Features and Dynamics of Early Gene Transcription in Paramecium bursaria Chlorella Virus 1". PLOS ONE. 9 (3): 1–10. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0090989. PMC 3946568 . PMID 24608750.