The endosymbiotic unit ofStentor polymorphus andChlorella sp. morphological and physiological studies

Summary The greenStentor polymorphus harbours unicellular coccoid chlorophycean algae. They are located in food vacuoles, where they show various states of digestion, as well as in individual so-called perialgal vacuoles. According to their characteristic morphological properties the algae belong to the genusChlorella. They can be isolated from the ciliate and cultivated in mass cultures in a sterile defined inorganic medium supplemented with vitamins B₁ and B₁₂. The algae have no secondary carotenoids and excrete maltose by a pH-dependent mechanism. They thus show a conspicuous physiological similarity to the symbiotic chlorellae ofParamecium bursaria andHydra viridis, which also excrete maltose.A comparison of the properties of the chlorellae isolated fromStentor polymorphus and of the intactStentor polymorphus-Chlorella unit with the characteristic features of symbiotic chlorellae and with endosymbiotic systems containingChlorella sp. in general, lead to the conclusion that the greenStentor polymorphus is also a true endosymbiotic system.