#blepharisma

[microbes-in-hats]

Blepharisma americana

Photo credit: Gerd Guenther/Science Photo Library

[crttvv]

the color brothers (stentors and blepharisma have pigments named after them! stentorin and blepharismin respectively)

[adelicateculturecell]

Journey to the Microcosmos- We Recorded Too Much Slow Motion Footage So Here's a Bonus Video

Images Originally Captured by Jam's Germs

[adelicateculturecell]

Journey to the Microcosmos- Giant Microscopic Cannibals

Images Originally Captured by Jam's Germs

[adelicateculturecell]

CC: "Instead of having sex and producing offspring, these two ciliates have sex and BECOME the offspring. They are both GENETICALLY DIFFERENT after the conjugation than they were before. When they're done, the conjugants separate, and to pass those new genes on to another generation, the organisms will have to eventually divide, producing daughter cells that now carry their own copies of this new nucleus."

Journey to the Microcosmos- Becoming Your Own Baby Through Conjugation

Images Originally Captured by Jam's Germs

Quote Voiced by Hank Green

[adelicateculturecell]

" Well, volvocine algae primarily reproduce asexually. But where many microbes divide through binary fission--deviding into two daughter cells that then grow and divide again--most volvocine algae are a little more chaotic. They divide through multiple fission, which means that any cell that's going to reproduce start by growing... a lot. If they want two daughter cells, they grow twice as big. If they want to make four, they grow four times as large. And once they get as big as they need to, the alage goes through a rapid series of divisions to produce all those daughter cells in quick succession."

Journey to the Microcosmos- How Did Multicellularity Evolve?

Images Originally Captured by Jam's Germs

Blepharisma, Eudorina 400x, Volvox 630x, Volvox 100x, Volvox 40x, Volvox 40x

[adelicateculturecell]

"Today we're going to focus on one particular method of ciliate reproduction: my personal favorite, conjugation. We've actually shown ciliates like these mid-coitus before. Sometimes they seem to be frantically chasing each other like these two are and sometimes, they're more chill, like two blobs that are just very, very... close."

Journey to the Microcosmos- Becoming Your Own Baby Through Conjugation

Images Originally Captured by Jam's Germs

Chlamydomonas-like algae 200x, Ciliate conjugation 630x, Paramecium bursaria during conjugation 400x, Blepharisma conjucation 630x, Blepharisma dividing 630x, Euglena deses in cell division 200x

[adelicateculturecell]

"The world is always changing and testing the organisms with it. Temperatures can become uncomfortable, nutrients can become scarce, and enemies can become plentiful. Adapting to these changing conditions requires change in the organism and its progeny. That change can come about in many different ways and manifest in many different forms, but one of the tried and true methods is sexual reproduction."

Journey to the Microcosmos- Becoming Your Own Baby Through Conjugation

Paramecium conjugation 200x, Tardigrade eats Chlamydomonas-like algae 630x, Ophryoglena 630x, Paramecium bursaria in cell division 400x, Heliozoon dividing 400x, Blepharisma 200x