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2005 East Coast Protozoology Meeting, Part II
By Aaron Bell, for the
Aug 26, 2005, 13:49

Part One of this report

Session moderators: Dr.’s Sam Bowser and Wayne Coats

Denis Lynn

The power of PCR was once again demonstrated in Dr. Denis Lynn’s talk on the phylogenetic position of the apostome ciliates. Dr. Lynn set out to test the claim that apostomes have phylogenetic affinity to hymenostomes based solely on somatic kinetid ultrastructural analysis. This was done by sequencing the small subunit rRNA (SSrRNA) genes of three apostome isolates, combined with the SSrRNA data from another apostome. Dr. Lynn demonstrated by phylogenetic analysis that the apostome subclass is related to other subclasses within the Class Oligohymenophorea but not closely to the hymenostomes.

O. Roger Anderson

The tidal forces present in the Hudson Estuary result in a dynamic protistan community due to regular changes in the salinity of the water. Dr. O. Roger Anderson collected water from the estuary, divided it into subsamples and adjusted the salinity in each to study changes in the protistan communities in response to increases/decreases in salinity. Dr. Anderson found that as the salinity increased, community diversity, number of flagellates and proportion of flagellates to diatoms increased. Furthermore, when the cultures were subjected to a gradual increase in salinity, 18 of the original 23 morphospecies persisted, indicating adaptation rather than cyst emergence.

James Trice III

Hurricane Isabel passed over part of coastal North Carolina in September of 2003, presenting James Trice III with a rare opportunity to study the dispersal of peritrich ciliates following major water disturbances. Not surprisingly, two days after the hurricane a large number of telotroch (dispersal form) peritrichs were observed in coastal streams. Two months after the hurricane, however, very few telotrochs were observed. James verified these observations experimentally by subjecting peritrich cultures to various artificial wave intensities and found a correlation between telotroch formation and increased wave intensity. Future experiments will explore other factors that might influence telotroch formation, such as decreased oxygen concentration.

Gaytha Langlois

Dr. Gaytha Langlois had the misfortune of choosing a small island in the middle of the Great Barrier Reef as her study site. Heron Island is approximately 1.8 km in circumference with glaring white coral sand beaches and disgustingly tropical waters. Marine and bird life are overly abundant and as if this weren’t bad enough, a small resort is present on the island where a sunburned researcher can obtain cold alcoholic beverages after a difficult day of snorkeling on the reef. The very definition of Hell on earth. Dr. Langlois did manage to conduct some research while imprisoned under those grueling conditions. Interestingly enough, she obtained video footage of an opportunistic protist feeding on bleached coral. These protists form distinctive brown bands on stricken corals where they are actively feeding, hence the name "Brown band disease". Dr. Langlois promised to make the ultimate sacrifice to science and return to the despicable little island to conduct follow up research.

John Clamp

The peritrich genus Zoothamnium is comprised of sessile ciliates that inhabit both marine and freshwater habitats and possess stalks which contract into a zig-zag. Dr. John Clamp presented his work on sequencing the 18s rRNA genes of four marine members of Zoothamnium to elucidate the groups phylogenetic relationship with other ciliate groups. Dr. Clamp determined that these four species belonged to a monophyletic clade allied to the non-contractile genus Epistylis but distant from both C. polypinum (a colonial member of the Vorticellidae family with a stalk that contracts into a coil) and the freshwater peritrich Z. arbuscula. Future work will include sequencing other genes, such as spasmin, to compare with these results.

Tammy Ferguson

Dr. Tammy Ferguson presented her work on two species of amebae, Balamuthia mandrillaris and Acanthamoeba culbertsoni, which are causative agents of granulomatous amebic encephalitis. Co-cultivation of microglial-like cells with amebae revealed an upregulation of messenger RNA for both IL-1â and IL-1Ra in the microglial-like cells, which resulted in the early destruction of the amebae. However, after 6 hours the amebae began to encyst, thereby becoming resistant to the chemical warfare of the microglial-like cells and eventually destroyed the cells. These results suggest that free-living amebae have evolved the means to subvert the anti-amebic ability of the microglial-like cells.

Three student presentation awards were given out this year. Each student received a certificate and cash award.

2005 Student Presentation Award winners

Aaron Bell (left) $100

Rebecca MacLean (middle) $50

James Trice III (right) $50

Special thanks to the awards committee for the difficult job of choosing just three winners from among all of the excellent talks.

John Clamp, N.C. Central University (chair)

Jeff Cole, American Type Culture Collection

Jim Snieszek, Montgomery College

John Kloetzel, University of Maryland Baltimore County

One of the highlights of the meeting was the screening of "Proteus", a film by David Lebrun. This fascinating film features the mysteries of the undersea world as seen through the eyes of nineteenth century painters, graphic artists, photographers and scientific illustrators. In particular, this film focuses on the work of biologist and artist Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919) and his work on the radiolaria. In addition, several other historical events are highlighted in the film including: The legend of Faust, the journey of Coleridge's Ancient Mariner, the laying of the transatlantic telegraphic cable and the voyage of HMS Challenger.

Past President David Caron hands over the gavel to President Wayne Coats

In other news, former president of the society, Dr. David Caron (left), "passed the gavel" to the new president of the society, Dr. Wayne Coats. Dr. Francine Marciano-Cabral received flowers from Dr. Denis Lynn on behalf of the society for organizing this year’s conference.

Finally, special thanks to the organizers of this year’s conference, Dr. Francine Marciano-Cabral, Ms. Nancy Fogg, Ms. Martha Crewey and Dr. Michael Dolan for putting together a fantastic program and for all their hard work and sacrifice. Also, thank you to Dr. Dennis Ohman, chairman of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine for supporting this conference.

Francine Marciano-Cabral receiving (left) and giving (right) thanks for the work that went into the conference

Respectfully submitted by: Aaron Bell