Protistology • 14 (2) 51–57 (2020) |
Inheritable destabilization of several phenotypic characters in amoebae and ciliates |
Zoya I. Uspenskaya Institute of Cytology Russian Academy of Sciences, 194064 St. Petersburg, Russia | Submitted March 16, 2020 | Accepted April 16, 2020 | Summary In the course of many years of genetic research conducted by various researchers of amoebae Amoeba proteus and ciliates Dileptus anser, a particular type of hereditary variation called instability of traits has been described. The new previously unnoticed ability of the known antibiotic actinomycin D to induce this type of hereditary variability in these protists was revealed. For a number of features, this variability can be considered epigenetic, not caused by any mutation in DNA. Therefore, actinomycin D can be viewed as an inducer of the inherited changes of epigenetic nature, i.e. «epimutagen».
Key words: Amoeba proteus, Dileptus anser, genetic variation, inheritable destabilization of characters, genetics, actinomycin D, epigenetics
Address for correspondence: Zoya Uspenskaya. Laboratory of Cytology of Unicellular Organisms, Institute of Cytology RAS, Tikhoretsky ave. 4, 194064 St. Petersburg, Russia; e-mail: zoyaus@mail.ru |
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