Amoeboid infected with parasites?

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Wes
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Amoeboid infected with parasites?

#1 Post by Wes » Thu Oct 10, 2019 11:14 pm

50x46 µm, found it in a pond water culture. The structure on the left is its nucleus I think but I have no clue what the other 5 round things are (some kind of parasites maybe?)

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mnmyco
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Re: Amoeboid infected with parasites?

#2 Post by mnmyco » Fri Oct 11, 2019 5:39 am

I would guess it is food being digested via phagocytosis.

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Wes
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Re: Amoeboid infected with parasites?

#3 Post by Wes » Sat Oct 12, 2019 8:27 am

I see three possibilities: food, gametes, parasites. The 5 objects look nothing like the food vacuoles in any of the protists I've seen in this sample, usually they have a thin membrane and are filled with either yeast, algae or bacteria. The structures here are a bit more intricate, there is an outer layer of higher optical density and a lower density core in addition to a number of smaller vesicles and granules. It may be some sort of reproductive structure, but I'd expect the nucleus (the different structure on the left at 10 o'clock) to have itself morphed into such an entity (although what do I know about protist sex life). And this leaves me with a parasite but I really have no way to justify this, I simply can't explain what else it could be and thats not a solid argument. Very mysterious object :?:
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75RR
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Re: Amoeboid infected with parasites?

#4 Post by 75RR » Sat Oct 12, 2019 3:27 pm

Wondered if Positive/Negative Bias might have a bearing on the ID
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Wes
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Re: Amoeboid infected with parasites?

#5 Post by Wes » Sat Oct 12, 2019 5:06 pm

I regret not taking a phase contrast image, that might have been nice.
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PeteM
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Re: Amoeboid infected with parasites?

#6 Post by PeteM » Sat Oct 12, 2019 5:38 pm

Wes wrote:
Sat Oct 12, 2019 8:27 am
I see three possibilities: food, gametes, parasites. . . Very mysterious object :?:
Pop rivets? Those critters may be smarter than we think :-)

Do agree that phase & brightfield to compare might help with an ID.

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Re: Amoeboid infected with parasites?

#7 Post by mintakax » Tue Oct 15, 2019 2:27 pm

ID aside, this is a very interesting and attractive image. From your yeast fed culture ?

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Wes
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Re: Amoeboid infected with parasites?

#8 Post by Wes » Wed Oct 16, 2019 10:15 pm

mintakax wrote:
Tue Oct 15, 2019 2:27 pm
ID aside, this is a very interesting and attractive image. From your yeast fed culture ?
Yes, its from the yeast fed culture which I am now feeding with corn and amoeba are plentiful. This particular object I saw only once, usually there are many specimens of each species I find but this object was rather unique.
Zeiss Photomicroscope III BF/DF/Pol/Ph/DIC/FL/Jamin-Lebedeff
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