''Roombia truncata'' is a species of

katablepharid The kathablepharids or katablepharids () are a group of heterotrophic flagellates closely related to cryptomonads. First described by Heinrich Leonhards Skuja in 1939, kathablepharids were named after the genus '' Kathablepharis''. This genus is ...

s, which are

heterotrophic A heterotroph (; ) is an organism that cannot produce its own food, instead taking nutrition from other sources of organic carbon, mainly plant or animal matter. In the food chain, heterotrophs are primary, secondary and tertiary consumers, but ...

single-celled organisms. It was the first katablepharid to be generally available in

cell culture Cell culture or tissue culture is the process by which cell (biology), cells are grown under controlled conditions, generally outside of their natural environment. After cells of interest have been Cell isolation, isolated from living tissue, ...

, starting around 2009. The culture consists of ''Roombia'', the diatom ''

Navicula ''Navicula'' is a genus of boat-shaped diatom (single-celled photosynthetic organisms), comprising over 1,200 species, though many ''Navicula'' species likely do not belong in the genus strictly speaking. ''Navicula'' is Latin for "small ship", ...

'', and unidentified bacteria. ''Navicula'' provides the main food source for ''Roombia'', although ''Roombia'' also feeds on the bacteria. The Roombia Truncata was identified through SSU rRNA gene analysis as a typical component of eukaryotes however its complete set of RNA transcripts show mgR2-like CCr (Light sensitive ion channel) unlike other cryptists within this branch of the eukaryotic tree of life. ''Roombia'' was named after the

Roomba A Roomba is an autonomous robotic vacuum cleaner made by the company iRobot, and was first introduced in September 2002. Roombas have a set of sensors which help them navigate the floor area of a home. These sensors can detect the presence ...

robotic vacuum cleaner.

References

External links

Video of ''Roombia'' feeding on a diatomVideo of ''Roombia'' excreting
Katablepharida Cryptista genera {{Cryptista-stub