The contractile vacuole (CV) is an osmoregulatory organelle found in some eukaryotes including the free-living ciliate Vorticella convallaria and human parasites Trypanosoma cruzi and Leishmania. In this research, the CV cycling rates were determined at different temperatures above room temperature. It was found that when cells were heated up, CV rates increased. As predicted from older literature, the results followed an Arrhenius relationship; a graph of natural log of the cycling rate vs the inverse temperature is linear with a slope of 8560 ± 480 K. We hope to perform similar experiments in the presence of potential small molecule inhibitors of the CV to investigate their mechanism and potential for anti-parasitic drug development.

Contractile vacuole cycling in Vorticella convallaria at various temperatures

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.