The relation of temperature to growth of Astasia (Protozoa) in pure culture

✍ Scribed by Schoenborn, Henry W.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1947
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 349 KB
• Volume: 105
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-104X
• DOI: 10.1002/jez.1401050302

✦ Synopsis

Pure cultures of Astasia sp., a colorless euglenoid flagellate, have been maintained for a number of years in organic media (Hall, '39). More recently, this form has been shown capable of continuous growth in media containing sodium acetate as the only organic material, and also in purely inorganic media (Sdicenborn, '40, '46). However, in these simple solutions only slow growth is observed, and the population levels during the maximum stationary phase of growth are much lower than those observed in organic media. I n order that certain biochemical investigations might be undertaken it was considered desirable to attempt to increase the growth rate and the yield in simple media. Since all previous studies of this organism had been carried out at room temperature, one of the first factors to be considered was the effect of temperature on growth. The relation of temperature to growth in organic media was also studied in order that comparisons might be made and in order to determine whether this colorless euglenoid shows the same behavior as the green Euglena gracilis when cultured in darkness (Jahn, '35).