A temperature-compensated ultradian clock of Tetrahymena: oscillations in respiratory activity and cell division

Both a circadian clock and an ultradian clock (period 4-5 h) have previously been described for the ciliated protozoon Tetrahymena. The present communication demonstrates the existence of yet another cellular clock: an ultradian rhythm with a period of about 30 min. The period was found to be well temperature-compensated over the range studied, i.e., between 19 degrees C and 33 degrees C. Ultradian rhythmicity was initiated by dilution of stationary-phase cultures, which were kept previously in a light-dark cycle, into fresh medium. LD treatment during stationary phase was an absolute requirement, since cultures kept in either LL or DD did not produce the ultradian rhythmicity after refeeding. The clock exerts control over respiration; the observed oscillation in oxygen uptake is just a hand of the clock: after a limitation of oxygen supply had ended, the rhythm resumed with the same phase and period as that in control cultures. The clock exerts temporal control also over cell division; in the refed culture cell division resumed with an oscillation in the number of dividing organisms. The period of this oscillation corresponded to that of the rhythm in respiratory activity, indicating that the same ultradian clock may exert control over different cellular functions. Analysis of a second Tetrahymena strain indicates that period length of the ultradian clock is a strain-specific characteristic.