Further Observations on the ‘Metaplasia’ of an Amoeba, Naegleria gruberi

The development of flagella by Naegleria gruberi, which occurs when a culture of organisms in the amoeboid form is treated with distilled water, has been shown (Willmer, 1956) to be a phenomenon probably related more to the ionic balance between the organism and its external environment than to the simple movement of water in and out of the cell in response to total osmotic changes. From Text-fig. 1 it may be seen that with respect to the response of the amoeba to different concentrations of the various salts investigated there are for each salt two somewhat critical concentrations. In the case of NaCl solutions in distilled water these turning points occur at about 30 mM. and 1 mM., and in the case of KCl solutions at about 50 mM. and 6 mM. Above the higher of these concentrations in each case the organisms always assume the amoeboid form, and below the lower they become flagellate at least as frequently as they do in distilled water.