Etude Ultrastructurale du Genre Enteromonas da Fonseca (Zoomastigophorea) et Révision de l'Ordre des Diplomonadida Wenyon

Abstract

Fine structure of 2 species of Enteromonas, one from the intestine of the salamander, Triturus vulgairs, and another from the feces of domestic rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculi, is described. The pyriform cell has an anteriorly located nucleus. The 4 flagella originate from an area near the anterior end of the nucleus. The recurrent flagellum (R) is lodged in a ventral depression or cytostome. The kinetosomes, arranged into 2 pairs, anterior (no. 1, no. 2) and posterior ("3, R), are interconnected by microfibrils. One microtubular fiber, connected to kinetosome "1, is situated near the anterior surface of the nucleus. Another, subnuclear, microtubular fiber is homologous to the "crossed" fiber found in Diplozoa. The cytostome is bordered by 2 lips: the preeminent left lip is equipped with several rows of microtubules, while the right lip contains only a thin microtubular fiber associated with microfibrils. The cytostome occupies 2/3 of the ventral surface. The recurrent flagellum passos over the anterior surface of the cell and then comes to lie in the cytostome. The bacteria are phagocytosed in the bottom part of the cytostome between the 2 distended lips. They are digested in numerous vacuoles. The undigested residual bodies are evacuated by a rupture of the cell membrane. The ergastoplasm is concentrated near the cell periphery. Mitochondria and the Golgi apparatus are absent. In the cyst stage, the multinucleate cell is enclosed in a microfibrillar membrane; the axonemes lie free in the cytoplasm. Diplomonad forms of Enteromonas resembling Hexamita are numerous, except that the cytostome is different in these 2 genera. In such forms, the arrangement of the 2 individuals often has binary axial symmetry, but on occasion they are associated in a more anarchic fashion. The mastigont of Enteromonas is organized like that of a single zooid of a diplozoon. It is possible that the genus Enteromonas is ancestral to Diplomonadida and that the diplomonad state, transitory in Enteromonas, became permanently established in Diplomonadida. Enteromonas appears to be more primitive than the other genera of Diplomonadida. Thus we propose 2 suborders: Enteromonadina, subord. nov. with the genus Enteromonas, and Diplomonadina Wenyon, emend., with the genera Trepomonas, Trigonomonas, Hexamita, Spironucleus, Octomitus, Giardia. The arrangement of the kinetosomes and the existence of a cytostome are the principal characters common to Enteromonas and Retortamonadida, while their "accessory" fibers are not homologous. A more complete study of division of the 2 zooflagellate orders is necessary for the presentation of a more detailed evolutionary scheme of these groups.