SELECTION AND ANALYSIS OF A MUTANT PARAMECIUM-TETRAURELIA LACKING BEHAVIORAL RESPONSE TO TETRAETHYLAMMONIUM

A mutant P. tetraurelia does not exhibit an avoiding reaction in solutions of tetraethylammonium (TEA+), a known membrane K+-channel blocker. Behavioral reaction of the mutant to Na+ solutions was also weak. The rapid successions of avoiding reactions in Ba2+ solutions were observed in both wild type and the TEA-insensitive mutant. Formal genetic analyses showed that this mutant is due to a recessive mutation. This mutation is on a gene completely unlinked to and hypostatic in different degrees to the genes for the membrane defects of pawn A, pawn B, ts-pawn C, fast-2 and paranoiac A.