Sorry, wrong numbers
ysabetwordsmith wrote
Salamanders and Algae
... have a weird symbiotic relationship.
I read it. FAScinating! o॓ó
But I've just been trying to send the author a note on number (grammatical, that is) fitting within Twitter's 140-byte limit -
Algae=plural, alga=singular. But bacteria=plural, bacterium=singular
- and mark up his article. But of course I can't send a marked-up text of any size at all through Twitter, so I'm putting it here and giving him the link.,
Markup: ++ and green mean "right", -- and red mean "wrong", and the symbols bracket a single instance, or sometimes a combination. Oh, and the next-to-last paragraph has a wrong number combined with a correct one. I would have used yellow (= red + green in colors of light) but it's too pale to read, so I took purple, as in "purple states".
In a scientific first, researchers have discovered a bizarre inter-species relationship in which ++salamanders and algae++ cozy up together to share cells.
...
As a collaborative research team from the American Museum of Natural History and Gettysburg College revealed, the green ++alga Oophila amblystomatis makes++ its++ home inside of cells located across the body of the spotted salamander Ambystoma maculatum. ... The normally photosynthetic green ++algae, on the other hand are++ completely stressed out, forced rely on an alternative means of energy production.
Examples include single-celled dinoflagellates that accumulate on coral and giant clams and use photosynthesis to provide sustenance to their hosts, and gut --bacteria that helps-- bugs break down plant compounds.
Back in the late 19th century, biologists learned that green --algae grows-- in the egg cases of spotted salamanders, providing a win-win situation for both; the embryos produce nitrogen-rich waste for the algae, and in turn, the --algae increases-- the oxygen content found in the fluid around the breathing embryos through photosynthesis.
But the green --algae is-- not limited to the egg cases-it’s also located inside cells of a mature salamander’s body. As previous research has shown, the ++algae enter++ the eggs, proliferate, and then later invades the tissues and cells of the developing embryos.
A spotted salamander embryo’s tail with endosymbiotic algae. The ++algae are++ visualized by chlorophyll fluorescence, seen here as bright white regions of the image. (Image: AMNH/J. Burns)
... Using a technique called RNA-Seq, the researchers sequenced the RNA (a single-stranded copy of DNA that helps cells make proteins) of both organisms, and then used those sequences to learn how the ++algae and salamanders++ changed their patterns of gene expression while interacting.
... Burns told Gizmodo. “In fact, there are tantalizing hints that the salamander is actually responding in a way that dampens its immune response to ++this alga++...”
... But the same cannot be said for the green --algae, which appears-- to be struggling in its-- foreign host.
“For its part, the ++alga undergoes++ drastic changes,” said Burns. “Unlike the alga in the coral-alga symbiosis, the ++alga in this interaction is++ stressed, and rather than producing oxygen and sugar through photosynthesis, it is++ fermenting. This suggests that the ++alga is++ in a relatively low oxygen environment.”
A spotted salamander embryo with large numbers of algal cells inside its tissues. The ++algae are++ visualized by chlorophyll fluorescence, seen here as yellow-orange bright regions of the image. (Image: Ryan Kerney)
And indeed, the intracellular --alga do-- appear relatively starved for sulfur.
... Why ++do the algae++ go to all the trouble of setting up camp in the tissues of salamanders only to get stressed out? ...
...
It’s also possible that the green --++algae -despite having to use fermentation to produce energy- is-- benefitting the salamander cells by producing nutrients, albeit fewer than they++ would normally produce under high oxygen conditions. ...
Regardless of the reason, this discovery is changing our thinking about photo-symbioses. More examples like this may exist in nature. Looking ahead, the researchers would like to explore how the --algae takes-- root in the salamander.
...
Unsurprisingly, the expert he quotes (J. Burns) uses both forms correctly, and I haven't generally included those quotes. But Dvorsky has trouble with these Latin terms, as many do, and is inconsistent about them. This entry was originally posted at http://thnidu.dreamwidth.org/1620720.html. You can comment here, or there using OpenID or your Dreamwidth ID.
comments there so far.