paramecium
Paramecia and other ciliates are the most complex of all single-celled organisms. The paramecium has an external oral groove lined with cilia and leading to a mouth pore and gullet; food (typically smaller organisms, such as bacteria) is digested in food vacuoles. There are also an anal pore, two contractile vacuoles that regulate the water content of the cell, and two nuclei. The larger nucleus, or macronucleus, is thought to regulate most cell functions, while the smaller nucleus, or micronucleus, is involved in reproduction. Paramecia usually reproduce asexually by cell division but can also exchange genetic information via a process called conjugation, in which two individuals unite at the oral grooves and exchange micronuclei that serve as little packages of DNA, after which the cells divide, yielding daughter cells with DNA from each of the parents.
See A. Jurand and G. C. Selman,
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