PROGRESS IN PROTOZOOLOGY

PROGRESS IN PROTOZOOLOGY
Proceedings of VI International Congress of Protozoology
Special Congress Volume of ACTA PROTOZOOLOGICA
part II, pp. 239-242, 1984
Symposium F: Mutualistic (Symbiotic) Relationships
Anthony T. SOLDO
Research Laboratories, Veterans Administration Medical Center,
Miami, FL 33125, USA
Chairman: Anthony T. Soldo, Veterans Administration Medical Center, Miami. USA
Co-Chairman: Klaus Heckmann, University of Munster, Munster, FRG
Convenor: Witold Kasprzak, Academy of Medicine, Poznań, Poland.
This section of the program brought together workers whose research
interests focused on symbiotic (mutualistic) relationships among
protozoa. The program included a Symposium and a Poster Session;
thirteen papers were presented, four in the Symposium and eleven in
the Poster Session. Topics included algal, bacterial and viral symbionts
associated with host protozoa ranging from foraminifera and flagellates
to ciliates, both fresh water and marine in origin. For the sake of clarity,
this summary is arranged with respect to categories of symbionts
discussed.
Algal Symbionts
J. J. Lee and M. E. McEnery found that a number of families
of large benthic foraminifera served as hosts for a wide variety of
endosymbiotic algae including dinoflagellates, chlorophytes, diatoms and
unicellular red algae. As a consequence of protracted and continuous
association with these giant protozoa, the outer cell walls of the symbionts,
through adaptive mechanisms involving host participation, were
repressed within the host and re-formed when released (experimentally)
from the host. In most cases, the symbionts, which appeared to be
regionally separated from those upon which the protozoans fed, pro-
Session took place on July 6, 1981 at VI International Congress of Protozoology v
Warsaw, Poland, 5-11 July, 1981.
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