Paramecium aurelia, the species complex of which Paramecium tetraurelia is a member. Photo credit: Josh Grosse. Original caption: "Optical microscope. Paramecium aurelia, the best known of all ciliates. The bubbles throughout the cell are vacuoles. The entire surface is covered in cilia, which are blurred by their rapid movement." CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The genome sequence and gene models of Paramecium tetraurelia were not determined by the Joint Genome Institute (JGI), but were downloaded from NCBI on May 28, 2018. In order to allow comparative analyses with other genomes sequenced by the JGI, a copy of this genome is incorporated into the JGI Genome Portal. JGI tools were used to automatically annotate predicted proteins. Please note that this copy of the genome is not maintained by NCBI and is therefore not automatically updated.

The following text comes from NCBI Genome:

Paramecium tetraurelia

Paramecium tetraurelia is a free-living, unicellular ciliate living in freshwater environments, that is a model organism for genetic, molecular, and many cellular processes. Most paramecia feed on bacteria, algae and yeast, and are then, in turn, consumed by other larger protists and small animals, which are in turn preyed upon by larger organisms. Paramecia are thus a key link in detritus-based food webs in aquatic ecosystems. Similiar to other ciliates, this organism has two nuclei: a germinal and a somatic nucleus. The germinal nucleus or micronucleus is diploid and is responsible for transmission of genetic information whereas the somatic nucleus or macronucleus is polyploid, and is involved in gene transcription. Therefore, only the micronuclei undergo meiosis in order to transfer genetic information to the new generation of organisms. The macronuclei are lost at each generation and develop anew from the micronucleus.