BioIT Sem 1 08-09. Counts for 23 June 2008

I counted these:
Group 4: 258/0.1
Grp 1: 55/0.4
Grp 2: 114 rods/0.1 (Ankistrodesmus is definitely a pretty thing!)
Grp 6: 166/0.1
Grp 3: 120/0.2
Grp 5 counted theirs. I think it's 176/0.1?

Scenedasmus and Ankistrodesmus are so unique that I think it will be a good idea to see the growth curves that result when we grow them in the same flask. Let's see if we have time.

I read an interesting article in the latest issue of Nature (vol. 453, no. 29, pp. 583-585) by N. Lane: "Origins of death". Apparently, certain unicellular organisms engage in apoptosis, i.e., programmed cell death. Also known as cell suicide, apoptosis is a regular feature of multicellular eukoryotes, that is, of plant and animal cells. It's what keeps your nose and other organs from growing too large; a defect in apoptosis is one feature of cancer. But it was unusual to find it in unicellular eukaryotes, because single celled organisms have usually been considered immortal: when they asexually multiply by splitting, the resulting daughter cells are considered "babies". They die only when there's a poison in the water, or it's too hot, etc. Now it seems some unicellular eukaryotes can initiate their own death under certain conditions, such as the presence of some virus in the culture. Mass suicide of a population containing infected algae might be a way of protecting neighboring populations from the virus.

Just in case your cultures suddenly crash, we will deep freeze them, then get in touch with some scientists who have the facilities to detect the tell-tale signals of apoptosis. A crashed culture will be a BIG thing; in fact, I'm almost hoping they do crash. This might get us published!