Paramecium Bursaria Growth and Microbiome Data in Defined vs. Lettuce Media

A 2023 clonal strain of Paramecium bursaria capable of growth without external nutrients proliferated comparably in a defined synthetic algal medium (AF-6) and conventional lettuce infusion. The dataset, authored by Yuri Matsushima and shared on figshare in 2026, includes measurements of cell size, compression-induced extension, symbiotic algal abundance, and 16S rRNA gene sequencing results showing conserved host-associated bacterial communities across media.

Use Cases

• Comparing host physiology metrics like cell size and compression-induced extension between defined and undefined culture media.
• Analyzing symbiotic algal abundance and identity via rbcL metataxonomic analysis across different Paramecium bursaria strains.
• Investigating host-associated bacterial community composition stability using 16S rRNA gene sequencing after a change in culture medium.
• Benchmarking the growth performance of unfed versus algae-fed Paramecium bursaria strains in synthetic versus plant-based media.

Strengths

• Data supports a reproducible 'unfed strain + defined algal medium' experimental framework, addressing a major obstacle in microbiome research.
• Includes comparative analysis of two distinct Paramecium bursaria strains (an unfed clonal strain established in 2023 and a publicly maintained algae-fed strain NIES-2891).
• Multiple physiological and molecular metrics were collected, including growth, cell size, algal abundance, and community sequencing.

Limitations

• The dataset is small (176.8 KB), indicating limited scope and likely a small sample size.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale analyses.

Provenance

Source

Yuri Matsushima

Collection Method

Likely contains experimental laboratory measurements from culturing Paramecium bursaria in different media and subsequent molecular analysis.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-01 05:24:39; freshness should be verified.