[3] Paramecium aurelia demonstrate a strong "sex reaction" whereby groups of individuals will cluster together, and emerge in conjugant pairs.

[5] The hair-like cilia that cover the outer body of the paramecium are in constant motion, helping the organism move along at a speed of four times its own length per second.

Osmoregulation is carried out by a pair of contractile vacuoles on either end of the cell, which actively expel water absorbed by osmosis from the surroundings.

In P. tetraurelia, the asexual line loses vitality and expires after about 200 fissions if the cells fail to undergo autogamy or conjugation.

When clonally aged P. tetraurelia are stimulated to undergo meiosis in association with either conjugation or automixis, the genetic descendants are rejuvenated, and are able to have many more mitotic binary fission divisions.

[12] The CtlP and Mre11 nuclease complex are essential for accurate processing and repair of double-strand breaks during homologous recombination.

[13] This observation suggests that the underlying molecular mechanism of meiosis provides a fitness advantage regardless of any concomitant effect of sex on genetic diversity.