Ciliates as dynamic hubs of the microbial world

Protists, being unicellular organisms, host their own microbiomes. Each cell of well-known freshwater ciliates Paramecium and Stentor serves as an ecological niche for a community of various prokaryotes. Ciliates may also harbor other unicellular eukaryotes, first of all green algae. Diversity and dynamics of the microbiomes of ciliates will be discussed.