Once again from the Nikon Small World galleries is this confocal image of Coscinodiscus wailesii, its frustule in green and chloroplasts in red. It was originally found in the Pacific Ocean but has also spread to the Atlantic Ocean, where it’s considered an invasive species. C. wailesii can survive for long periods in darkness, which indicates it was transported to the Atlantic in ballast water.
Diatoms and algae, from this pictorial. Also my first glimpse of the diatom party.
Since I don’t do bubble baths, this is my Sunday evening treat. Diatom party!
Neurons of this three day old zebrafish larva were labelled using the Brainbow technique, developed by Harvard’s Jeff Lichtman and Joshua Sanes, I’ve mentioned previously. Jack July has also posted a few nice images from the Lichtman lab.
Photo by Y. Albert Pan from Nikon’s Small World.
I am the blue-green alga Merismopedia. I promised billy I wouldn’t complain but he’ll never know because he’s at the gym right now. He left with his purple fanny pack which means it’s jazzercise night. When he gets home, I’ll distract him by asking for about the tenth time whether trans fats are good or bad. He’ll probably even diagram a hydrogenation reaction for me. Total snooze fest.
So here’s the deal: I’m unicellular. I’m found in freshwater and marine environments. My rectangular colony is held together by a mucilaginous matrix. I really want to try fun new layouts for our colony like a spiral or maybe even a pumpkin. The neighborhood association doesn’t approve of anything except the same boring grid arrangement we’ve always had. FML.
Image from here.
I’m a blue-green alga of genus Cyanothece. I don’t like to complain but here’s the problem: I’m forced to rely on temporal separation of nitrogen fixation and photosystem II in order to avoid deactivation of nitrogenase by oxygen. This is such a drag because I’m friends with Anabaena, who can form specialized cells for nitrogen fixation. I don’t have heterocysts. FML.
Image from here.
I’ve recently given a lot of attention to eukaryotes, completely neglecting my prokaryotic friends from genus Anabaena, a group of filamentous blue-green algae. In this photo, darker green vegetative cells are interspersed with translucent heterocysts, specialized cells where nitrogen fixation takes place.
Image from here.
I can confirm Mills, Abby, and I finally met Ngan before the LSU game on Saturday. Though LSU only managed to score a disappointing 3 points, I’m sure LSU’s mother still loves him and thinks he’s very handsome and talented.
I was glad to meet Ngan. Diatoms were mentioned but not discussed at any length (everyone knows a diatom party can only begin after halftime). I only hope her new entrepreneurial venture is meant to fund some very inexpensive addictions.
These two animals will be made to fight. The victor will feast at Medieval Times.
Photo from Life archive.
The Economist mentions a recent study pinning a series of mass animals deaths in Wyoming’s Fossil Lake on the release of neurotoxins by dinoflagellates. Although I was fully prepared to take a break from dinoflagellates, it seems they intend to continue provoking me.
Image from here.
While doing cardio this evening, I realized how tired I am of not having any mention of Volvox on this blog. Volvox is a freshwater green alga that forms spherical colonies. As Jack July mentioned a few months ago, these colonies have some wicked dance moves made possible by outward-facing flagella that are also used to propel them towards light.
When a new Volvox colony is formed, all of its flagella are on the inside of the sphere, a configuration suited only for an algal fireworks show. Each colony solves this problem by turning inside out. In this video, this happens at roughly the :25 and :40 second marks.
