SPONTANEOUS PARTIAL ROTATION AND OSCILLATION OF THE PROTOPLASM IN COLEOCHAETE AND OTHER CHLOROPHYCEAE

Geitler , Lothar . (Botanisches Institut, Universität, Wien, Austria.) Spontaneous partial rotation and oscillation of the protoplasm in Coleochaete and other Chlorophyceae. Amer. Jour. Bot. 48(8): 738–741. 1961.—In certain differentiated cells, such as the hairs, zoosporangia, oogonia, but also in the unicellular germlings, of species of Coleochaete, Chaetotheke, and Chaetosphaeridium, there occurs regularly a spontaneous movement of the protoplasm, which expresses itself strikingly in rapid rotation or oscillation of the chromatophore. The movement occurs partially and localized in certain parts of the cell. It is comparable to no type of protoplasmic streaming known up to the present. Rotation and oscillation occur as regular, cell-specific attributes, but rotation may be converted experimentally and transiently into oscillation. Oscillation is an intermittent rotation with periodic change of direction. Exploratory researches concerning osmotic values and permeability do not yet reveal definite relationships between the several types of movement in various specialized cells and their physiological condition. However, only the hair cells of Coleochaete and Chaetotheke with rotation show selective vital-staining with neutral red; the similarly constructed ones of Chaetosphaeridium with oscillation do not.