''Balantidium'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

ciliate The ciliates are a group of alveolates characterized by the presence of hair-like organelles called cilia, which are identical in structure to eukaryotic flagella, but are in general shorter and present in much larger numbers, with a differen ...

s. It contains the parasitic species ''

Balantidium coli ''Balantidium coli'' is a parasitic species of ciliate alveolates that causes the disease balantidiasis. It is the only member of the ciliate phylum known to be pathogenic to humans. Morphology ''Balantidium coli'' has two developmental stages ...

'', the only known cause of

balantidiasis Balantidiasis is a protozoan infection caused by infection with ''Balantidium coli''. Symptoms and signs Usually asymptomatic in immunocompetent individuals, but the symptoms of balantidiasis include: * Intermittent diarrhea * Constipation * Vomi ...

History

The first-described species of ''Balantidium'', ''B. entozoon'', was described in 1838 by Ehrenberg as a member of the genus '' Bursaria''. ''Balantidium coli'' observed in patients with

dysentery Dysentery (UK pronunciation: , US: ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications ...

was originally described as ''Paramecium coli'' by Malmstein in 1857. In 1858, Edouard Claparède and Johannes Lachmann created the genus ''Balantidium'' and reclassified ''B. entozoon'' as its type species. Stein in 1863 reclassified ''Paramecium coli'' into the genus ''Balantidium''.

Transcriptomics

Transcriptome The transcriptome is the set of all RNA transcripts, including coding and non-coding, in an individual or a population of cells. The term can also sometimes be used to refer to all RNAs, or just mRNA, depending on the particular experiment. The t ...

data for ''Balantidium ctenopharyngodoni'', from single-cell transcriptome sequencing, were published in 2017 and were the first

omics The branches of science known informally as omics are various disciplines in biology whose names end in the suffix ''-omics'', such as genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, metagenomics, phenomics and transcriptomics. Omics aims at the collective ...

data within the subclass Trichostomatia.

Taxonomy

A separate genus – '' Neobalantidium'' – has been created for several of these species. ''Balantidium coli'' is one of the species that has been reclassified. It has also been proposed that it is a

junior synonym The Botanical and Zoological Codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. * In botanical nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that applies to a taxon that (now) goes by a different scientific name. For example, Linn ...

of genus '' Balantioides'' which has ''B. coli'' as the type species. The closest known relative of this genus is '' Buxtonella sulcata'', a parasite of cattle.

Species

There are 72 species in the genus.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15149810 Ciliate genera Litostomatea