Isolation of clonal cultures of endosymbiotic green algae from their ciliate hosts

Using Paramecium bursaria as a model organism improved protocols have been developed to isolate clonal endosymbiotic algae. This involved micromanipulation of individual protists, rupturing to release endosymbionts followed by enrichment on complex media and a series of plating steps, under low light (PAR ~10μmol photons m−2s−1).