Disease relevance of Paramecium

• Characterization of a novel cis-syn and trans-syn-II pyrimidine dimer glycosylase/AP lyase from a eukaryotic algal virus, Paramecium bursaria chlorella virus-1 [1].
• Macronuclei from Paramecium caudatum infected with Holospora obtusa may be isolated on sucrose step gradients [2].
• Most features of Paramecium tRNA trp resemble other mitochondrial counterparts; however, its sequence is more homologous to the "unaltered" tRNA trp (anticodon CCA) from E. coli [3].
• The present study was undertaken to explore the acute toxicity of three carbamate pesticides, aldicarb, carbaryl, and mexacarbate, on a population of Paramecium multimicronucleatum [4].
• Pertussis toxin pretreatment significantly reduced Paramecium chemoattraction to sodium acetate and ammonium chloride in T-maze behavioral assays and depressed the frequency of avoidance reactions, indicating that heterotrimeric G-proteins may be involved with the motility response [5].

High impact information on Paramecium

• We propose that these codons do not represent termination codons in P. primaurelia but instead code for glutamic acid or glutamine and that the in vitro translation of Paramecium mRNAs is blocked by their presence [6].
• In contrast, 170 atmospheres did not significantly affect swimming behavior of paramecium "models" that were reactivated in a solution containing adenosine triphosphate and magnesium ions after their membrane had been disrupted by Triton X-100 [7].
• In addition, an essential function of gamma-tubulin in basal body duplication has been demonstrated in Paramecium [8].
• We cloned a guanylyl cyclase of 280 kDa from the ciliate Paramecium which has an N-terminus similar to that of a P-type ATPase and a C-terminus with a topology identical to mammalian adenylyl cyclases [9].
• This dynein was directly compared with the axonemal dyneins from Paramecium and found to differ by five criteria: morphology, sedimentation coefficient, CTPase/ATPase ratio, vanadate cleavage patterns, and polypeptide composition [10].

Chemical compound and disease context of Paramecium

• Evaluation of carbamate toxicity: acute toxicity in a culture of Paramecium multimicronucleatum upon exposure to aldicarb, carbaryl, and mexacarbate as measured by Warburg respirometry and acute plate assay [4].
• Nocodazole inhibits macronuclear infection with Holospora obtusa in Paramecium caudatum [11].
• Toxicity of Fastac 10 EC, a pyrethroid insecticide, to Paramecium primaurelia and Tubifex sp [12].

Biological context of Paramecium

• In this study, we mapped the 3'OH and 5'PO(4) groups that are developmentally released at Paramecium IES boundaries, which are marked by two conserved TA dinucleotides, one of which remains in the macronuclear genome after excision [13].
• Sequence analysis of the 330-kb double-stranded DNA genome of Paramecium bursaria chlorella virus-1 revealed an open reading frame A674R that encodes a protein with up to 53% amino acid identity to a recently discovered new class of thymidylate synthases, called ThyX [14].
• The functional significance of the V-ATPase in Paramecium was investigated by RNA interference (RNAi), using a recently developed feeding method [15].
• Effects of the plant amino acid mimosine on cell division, DNA, RNA and protein syntheses in Paramecium [16].
• In the presence of carboxyatractyloside, addition of AMP to Paramecium mitochondria incubated with pyruvate (+malate) led to an increase in membrane potential [17].

Anatomical context of Paramecium

• The ribosomes extracted from the mitochondria of the ciliate, Paramecium aurelia, have been shown to sediment at 80S in sucrose gradients [18].
• Ca2+-regulated guanylate cyclase in ciliary membranes from Paramecium contained tightly bound calmodulin [19].
• The results of immunoreactivity and localization experiments suggest that PCBP-25alpha is a Paramecium centrin and that PCBP-25beta is a distinct Ca(2+)-binding protein that confers Ca(2+) sensitivity on some component of the cilium, ciliary basal body or ICL [20].
• A heatlabile cyanide-insensitive ubiquinol oxidase was extracted from Paramecium mitochondria with the detergent NN-dimethyl-N-(3-laurylamidopropyl)amine oxide [17].
• The in vivo effect of dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO) on protein synthesis and the polyribosome profile in Paramecium [21].

Associations of Paramecium with chemical compounds

• Genetic analysis of membrane differentiation in Paramecium. Freeze-fracture study of the trichocyst cycle in wild-type and mutant strains [22].
• Membrane vesicles with a high mating reactivity were obtained from cilia of Paramecium caudatum by treatment with a solution containing 2 M urea and 0.1 mM Na2-EDTA [23].
• The action of deoxyribonuclease, ribonuclease, perchloric acid, and pronase on the fine structure of basal bodies of sectioned Paramecium was observed as part of a more extensive autoradiographic electron microscope analysis directed toward the problem of basal body DNA [24].
• Based on a previous observation that the naphthalene sulfonamide calmodulin antagonist W-7 can block Paramecium Ca channels at high concentration, we have synthesized analogs of W-7 that block these channels at concentrations of less than 1 microM [25].
• 5-Azacytidine affects the programming of expression of the somatic nucleus of Paramecium [26].

Gene context of Paramecium

• We describe here the structure of TCH2 in the fully Ca(2+)-saturated form, constructed using comparative molecular modeling, based on the x-ray structure of paramecium CaM [27].
• Here, we describe the identification and characterization of a novel class of cyclin-dependent protein kinase, termed Cdk2, in the ciliate Paramecium tetraurelia [28].
• A novel member of the cyclin-dependent kinase family in Paramecium tetraurelia [28].
• Paramecium was found to have two closely related copine genes, CPN1 and CPN2 [29].
• A comparative hybridization analysis of yeast DNA with Paramecium parafusin- and different phosphoglucomutase-specific probes [30].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of Paramecium

• Finally, synthesis and release of GABA in the environment by Paramecium have been demonstrated by HPLC [31].
• Immunofluorescence assays showed the reactivity of anti-Pf9-peptide sera with P. falciparum merozoites and gametocytes, as well as on the surface of Paramecium tetraurelia [32].
• Ultrastructure and antigenicity of the "mesh-like sheath" (MLS), a very delicate structure connecting the membrane and the paracrystalline matrix of Paramecium trichocysts, are well preserved after cryofixation (rapid freezing followed by freeze-substitution in methanol and embedding in Lowicryl K11M at 213K) [33].
• Polystyrene fluorescent microspheres and a variety of mithramycin stained biological samples ranging from yeast cells to Paramecium were processed by the system [34].
• In this study we report evidence of recombination of p29 to cytoplasmic dyneins from both rat liver and Paramecium, as well as to a 22S dynein precursor molecule, based on immunoprecipitation and force filtration data [35].

References