Latest Posts by mikrobiotch - Page 3
(via Nikon Small World 2023 photo microscopy contest: Meet this year’s top 20 winners | Ars Technica)
Second place: a matchstick igniting by the friction surface of a matchbox.
Sunflower pollen on an acupuncture needle.
Fat Cell diagram for a college science class in 2022, rehearse for your science quiz here
Vermilion Waxcap // Hygrocybe miniata
Scarlet Waxcap // Hygrocybe coccinea
🧪The sodium-potassium pump🧬
Greetings, Tumblr community! 🧠💡 Let's engage in a comprehensive exploration of the sodium-potassium pump, dissecting its molecular intricacies and elucidating its critical role in cellular homeostasis.
Introduction:
The sodium-potassium pump, residing within the cellular membrane, is an adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-dependent transmembrane protein pivotal for maintaining ionic balance. Its primary function is to actively transport three sodium ions out of the cell while concurrently importing two potassium ions.
Functional Mechanism:
In terms of mechanistic precision, the sodium-potassium pump operates as an ATPase enzyme, utilizing the energy derived from ATP hydrolysis. This primary active transport process involves sequential conformational changes within the pump's structure.
The process commences with the binding of intracellular sodium ions to high-affinity sites on the pump. Subsequent phosphorylation, facilitated by ATP, induces conformational alterations that render the pump receptive to extracellular potassium ions. This triggers dephosphorylation, allowing potassium ions to be released intracellularly.
This orchestrated ion exchange serves to uphold the electrochemical gradient across the cellular membrane, establishing and preserving the resting membrane potential. In essence, the sodium-potassium pump is the architect of the delicate balance between sodium and potassium concentrations.
Physiological Significance:
The physiological ramifications of this meticulous ion transport extend to neuronal excitability and osmoregulation. By contributing to the establishment of the resting membrane potential, the pump plays a pivotal role in regulating action potentials and facilitating the propagation of nerve impulses.
Additionally, the pump actively participates in cellular volume control through osmoregulation. Its influence on water movement prevents cellular swelling or shrinkage, underscoring its significance in maintaining cellular integrity.
For those seeking empirical validation, consider consulting the following authoritative sources:
1. **Alberts B, Johnson A, Lewis J, et al.** Molecular Biology of the Cell. 4th edition. New York: Garland Science; 2002. Section 11.3, The Plasma Membrane.
2. **Nelson DL, Cox MM.** Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry. 7th edition. New York: W.H. Freeman; 2017. Chapter 11, Active Transport and the Cytoskeleton.
3. **Lodish H, Berk A, Zipursky SL, et al.** Molecular Cell Biology. 4th edition. New York: W. H. Freeman; 2000. Section 15.1, The Transport of Small Molecules Across Membranes.
Immerse yourself in the scientific intricacies of cellular dynamics with these foundational resources! 📚✨
A microscopic spectacle: these diatoms (Bacillaria paxillifer) slide parallel to each other in large colonies. I can only speculate as to why, but I imagine it is a method to access sunlight for photosynthesis while also providing a quick route to safety. 250x magnification, 4x speed.
Cell Junctions
– there are three types of junctions: – tight – desmosome – gap
– tight junctions seal epithelial cells to one another
– desmosomes have “spotted” seals, where keratin filaments anchor the two cells
– gap junctions have channels to allow the passage of ions and molecules
Have you ever seen a venus flytrap anemone? Members of the genus Actinoscyphia, these critters resemble their namesake plant but are actually marine invertebrates related to jellyfish. They can be found on the seafloor at depths of up to about 7,000 ft (2,133 m), where they lie in wait for passing food. These anemones use their tentacles to catch and consume detritus (decomposing organic waste) that's carried by the current. Growing as much as 1 ft (0.3 m) in length, their tentacles are lined with stinging nematocysts.
Photo: NOAA Photo Library, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Bad Newts: Amphibians are in Serious Trouble
My colleagues and I have just had a paper published in Nature, based on our efforts to assess almost all amphibian species for the IUCN Red Lists. The major takeaway messages:
It is a bad time to be an amphibian
Two fifths of all amphibians are threatened with extinction.
Salamanders are the most threatened group; three fifths of all salamanders are threatened with extinction!
Climate change is a major driver of amphibian declines globally
Habitat loss, especially due to agriculture, is a problem for the vast majority of amphibians
Chytrid pandemics have caused and continue to cause catastrophic declines of both salamanders and frogs
Protected areas and careful management are working as strategies! They are actively improving the outlook of some species
As many as 222 amphibian species may have gone extinct in recent times; of those, 185 are suspected extinct but not yet confirmed.
Our paper is Open Access, you can read it here!
Photo of Atelopus hoogmoedi by Jaime Culebras, used with permission
Biology Keychains - Diatoms and Soil Bacteria!
Designed by me, available now on my Etsy!
FOTD #126 : entoloma haastii!
entoloma haastii (no common name) is a mushroom in the family entolomataceae :-) it is only known to grow in aotearoa, where it often sprouts in leaf litter from southern beech plants.
the big question : can i bite it?? the edibility is unknown, but it is said to be sharp-tasting & sour / bitter.
e. haastii description :
"the cap is initially conical later developing an umbo & becoming rounded or bell-shaped, reaching diameter of 1.5–5.5 cm (0.6–2.2 in) in diameter. older fruit bodies have margins that are turned upward. the cap colour is dark brown or soot-brown but always has a bluish tinge. the surface is dry, covered by radially arranged wrinkles or veins, neither striate nor hygrophanous. the gills are adnexed to almost free from attachment to the stem. they are somewhat distantly spaced, with between 16 & 22 gills extending fully from the stem to the edge of the cap, in addition to one to three tiers of interspersed lamelluae (short gills that do not extend fully from the stem to the cap edge). the gill colour is grey-bluish later becoming pink, & the gill edges are straight or somewhat saw-toothed, & the same colour as the gill face. the stem is 4–10 cm (1.6–3.9 in) by 0.3–1 cm (0.12–0.39 in), bulbous-rooting or club-shaped. the top portion of the stem is deep blue, the colour fading towards the whitish or ochraceous base, strongly fibrillose, dry, hollow, fragile, often twisted. the flesh is blue in the cap & the upper parts of the stem, but whitish or yellowish at the base."
[images : source & source] [fungus description : source]
A quick little note about this bacterium, Nocardia! These are fascinating to me as, although they are a rod-shaped bacteria, they can form beaded, perpendicularly branching filaments that are acid-fast. They can appear morphologically similar to a different bacteria, the anaerobic Actinomyces, however Actinomyces does not exhibit beading like Nocardia does.
This is a Gram-stain of a bacterial embolus within a pulmonary vessel of an Australian marsupial species, and we were lucky enough to know what genus we were dealing with before culture was performed, purely based on the bacteria's morphology!
With the fast fashion industry… how it is… finding sustainable ways to make fabric is super important. Fibers from synthetic fabrics make up 35% of the microplastics that make their way to the ocean. Natural fibers sourced from plants or animals are much more environmentally sound options, including silk.
Currently, the only way to get natural silk on a large scale is to harvest it from silkworms. You’ve probably heard about the strength and durability of spider silk (it is 6x stronger than Kevlar!) but as of yet there hasn’t been a good way of getting it. Raising spiders the way people do silkworms isn’t really an option. Spiders need a lot of room to build their webs compared to silkworms, and individual spiders don’t produce that much silk. Plus, when you put a whole bunch of spiders in captivity together, they tend to start eating each other.
Attempts to artificially recreate spider silk have also been less than successful. Spider silk has a surface layer of glycoproteins and lipids on it that works as a sort of anti-aging “skin”- allowing the silk to withstand conditions such as sunlight and humidity. But this layer has been very tricky to reproduce.
However, as scientists in China realized, silkworms produce that same kind of layer on their silk. So what if we just genetically modified silkworms to produce spider silk?
That is exactly what the researchers at Donghua University in Shanghai did. A team of researchers introduced spider silk protein genes to silkworms using CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing and microinjections in silkworm eggs. In addition to this, they altered the spider silk proteins so that they would interact properly with the other proteins in silkworm glands. And it worked! This is the first study ever to produce full length spider silk proteins from silkworms.
The applications of this are incredibly exciting. In addition to producing comfortable textiles and new, innovative bulletproof vests, silkworm generated spider silk could be used in cutting edge smart materials or even just to create better performing sutures. In the future, this team intends to research how to modify this new spider silk to be even stronger, and they are confident that “large-scale commercialization is on the horizon."
CRISPR was already on thin fucking ice as a serious name for a biotech technique and now they made up CRISPY-BRED are you joking
hi- quick question since I know you're someone who's written several papers- Do you know if you/other people who have written scientific papers are okay with emails about questions about those papers?
I'm someone who studies hyenas- amateurishly -and papers about extinct species of hyenas are really interesting to me but I can't exactly digest them very well because I don't understand the words being used. Like, what in heavens names is a 'metaconid' what does this mean!!!!!
In general authors are happy to receive such questions, but might not have enough time to give you the answer you are looking for. Still, always worth reaching out.
A metaconid is a part of a molar. But I understand this is just an example among of the general issue you are trying to illustrate. What I have learned from years of reading unfamiliar jargon, and listening to podcasts like The Tetrapod Zoology Podcast that use jargon with reckless abandon, is that in general either (a) the words that are encoded in jargon aren't *that* important to understand the grand themes of what is being discussed, or (b) their meaning can be deduced based on context cues. When I come across one that is key but really cannot be deduced, I will google it, and often Wiktionary or similar will have an answer.
The more you read, the more familiar you will get with the jargon, and the less you will need to google or ask. So, I encourage you to read broadly, and chase those interests!
BRAINLESS BOX JELLIES CAN LEARN BY EXPERIENCE
Mangrove box jellyfish (Tripedalia cystophora) is a small species of box jellyfish, native to the Caribbean Sea and the Central Indo-Pacific, presenting a simple nervous system. But despite tiny, researchers have demonstrated present the ability to learn by association. Although has no central brain, and being the size of the finger-tip, this box jelly can be trained to associate the sensation of bumping into something with a visual cue, and to use the information to avoid future collisions.
In the wild, the Mangrove box jellyfish forage for tiny crustaceans between the roots of mangroves. To mimic this environment, researchers placed the box jellies in cylindrical tanks that had either black and white or grey and white vertical stripes on the walls. To the jellyfish, the dark stripes looked like mangrove roots in either clear or murky water. In the ‘murky water’ tanks, the jellyfish bumped into the wall because their visual system couldn’t detect the grey stripes very clearly. But after a few minutes, they learnt to adjust their behaviour, pulsing rapidly to swim away from the wall when they got too close, this state learning is based on the combination of visual and mechanical stimuli in simple animals with no brain.
The learning process, in difference with vertebrate animals, doesnt occurs in a central neuronal organs, but instead in a small organs named rhopalial nervous system, which act as learning center, in which the jelly combines visual and mechanical stimuli during operant conditioning.
Main image: An adult specimen of the box jellyfish T. cystophora., showing where is located one of the four sensory structures named rhopalia, which includes two lens eyes. Each rhopalium also contains a visual information processing center.
Reference (Open Access): Bielecki et al., 2023. Associative learning in the box jellyfish Tripedalia cystophora. Current Biology.
Mycologists, mostly from Latin America, established the term “funga” five years ago. It refers to the levels of diversity of fungi in any given place, and is analogous to “flora and fauna”, which refer to plants and animals. Unlike flora and fauna, it is not a Latin term but was chosen because it is morphologically similar. “Just like mycelium, mycologically inclusive language will spread unseen but profound [sic], permeating public consciousness (and policy) to acknowledge fungi’s vital role in the grand web of life on and in Earth,” it said. Government agencies in Australia, Brazil, Iceland and elsewhere have picked up on the word. Its creation and use reflects an increasing appreciation of the fungal kingdom and how it connects the plant world through an underground mycelial network.
[...]
Giuliana Furci and the biologist and author Merlin Sheldrake wrote: “Accounts of the living world that do not include fungi are accounts of a world that doesn’t exist. “Fungi have long sustained and enriched life on Earth. We are unthinkable without them, and yet we are only just beginning to understand the intricacies of fungal lives. It’s time we give them the attention they deserve."
The Ig Nobel Prize, for scientific research that makes people laugh and then makes them think. This year's winners!
CHEMISTRY and GEOLOGY PRIZE [POLAND, UK] Jan Zalasiewicz, for explaining why many scientists like to lick rocks. REFERENCE: “Eating Fossils,” Jan Zalasiewicz, The Paleontological Association Newsletter, no. 96, November 2017. Eating fossils | The Palaeontological Association (palass.org) WHO TOOK PART IN THE CEREMONY: Jan Zalasiewicz
LITERATURE PRIZE [FRANCE, UK, MALAYSIA, FINLAND] Chris Moulin, Nicole Bell, Merita Turunen, Arina Baharin, and Akira O’Connor for studying the sensations people feel when they repeat a single word many, many, many, many, many, many, many times. REFERENCE: “The The The The Induction of Jamais Vu in the Laboratory: Word Alienation and Semantic Satiation,” Chris J. A. Moulin, Nicole Bell, Merita Turunen, Arina Baharin, and Akira R. O’Connor, Memory, vol. 29, no. 7, 2021, pp. 933-942. doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2020.1727519 WHO TOOK PART IN THE CEREMONY: Chris Moulin, Akira O’Connor
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING PRIZE [INDIA, CHINA, MALAYSIA, USA] Te Faye Yap, Zhen Liu, Anoop Rajappan, Trevor Shimokusu, and Daniel Preston, for re-animating dead spiders to use as mechanical gripping tools. REFERENCE: “Necrobotics: Biotic Materials as Ready-to-Use Actuators,” Te Faye Yap, Zhen Liu, Anoop Rajappan, Trevor J. Shimokusu, and Daniel J. Preston, Advanced Science, vol. 9, no. 29, 2022, article 2201174. doi.org/10.1002/advs.202201174 WHO TOOK PART IN THE CEREMONY: Te Faye Yap and Daniel Preston
PUBLIC HEALTH PRIZE [SOUTH KOREA, USA] Seung-min Park, for inventing the Stanford Toilet, a device that uses a variety of technologies — including a urinalysis dipstick test strip, a computer vision system for defecation analysis, an anal-print sensor paired with an identification camera, and a telecommunications link — to monitor and quickly analyze the substances that humans excrete. REFERENCE: “A Mountable Toilet System for Personalized Health Monitoring via the Analysis of Excreta,” Seung-min Park, Daeyoun D. Won, Brian J. Lee, Diego Escobedo, Andre Esteva, Amin Aalipour, T. Jessie Ge, et al., Nature Biomedical Engineering, vol. 4, no. 6, 2020, pp. 624-635. doi.org/10.1038/s41551-020-0534-9 REFERENCE: “Digital Biomarkers in Human Excreta,” Seung-min Park, T. Jessie Ge, Daeyoun D. Won, Jong Kyun Lee, and Joseph C. Liao, Nature Reviews Gastroenterology and Hepatology, vol. 18, no. 8, 2021, pp. 521-522. doi.org/10.1038/s41575-021-00462-0 REFERENCE: “Smart Toilets for Monitoring COVID-19 Surges: Passive Diagnostics and Public Health,” T. Jessie Ge, Carmel T. Chan, Brian J. Lee, Joseph C. Liao, and Seung-min Park, NPJ Digital Medicine, vol. 5, no. 1, 2022, article 39. doi.org/10.1038/s41746-022-00582-0 REFERENCE: “Passive Monitoring by Smart Toilets for Precision Health,” T. Jessie Ge, Vasiliki Nataly Rahimzadeh, Kevin Mintz, Walter G. Park, Nicole Martinez-Martin, Joseph C. Liao, and Seung-min Park, Science Translational Medicine, vol. 15, no. 681, 2023, article eabk3489. doi.org/10.1126/scitranslmed.abk3489 WHO TOOK PART IN THE CEREMONY: Seung-min Park
COMMUNICATION PRIZE [ARGENTINA, SPAIN, COLOMBIA, CHILE, CHINA, USA] María José Torres-Prioris, Diana López-Barroso, Estela Càmara, Sol Fittipaldi, Lucas Sedeño, Agustín Ibáñez, Marcelo Berthier, and Adolfo García, for studying the mental activities of people who are expert at speaking backward. REFERENCE: “Neurocognitive Signatures of Phonemic Sequencing in Expert Backward Speakers,” María José Torres-Prioris, Diana López-Barroso, Estela Càmara, Sol Fittipaldi, Lucas Sedeño, Agustín Ibáñez, Marcelo L. Berthier, and Adolfo M. García, Scientific Reports, vol. 10, no. 10621, 2020. doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-67551-z WHO TOOK PART IN THE CEREMONY: María José Torres-Prioris, Adolfo García
MEDICINE PRIZE [USA, CANADA, MACEDONIA, IRAN, VIETNAM] Christine Pham, Bobak Hedayati, Kiana Hashemi, Ella Csuka, Tiana Mamaghani, Margit Juhasz, Jamie Wikenheiser, and Natasha Mesinkovska, for using cadavers to explore whether there is an equal number of hairs in each of a person’s two nostrils. REFERENCE: “The Quantification and Measurement of Nasal Hairs in a Cadaveric Population,” Christine Pham, Bobak Hedayati, Kiana Hashemi, Ella Csuka, Margit Juhasz, and Natasha Atanaskova Mesinkovska, Journal of The American Academy of Dermatology, vol. 83, no. 6, 2020, pp. AB202-AB202. doi.org/10.1016/j.jaad.2020.06.902 WHO TOOK PART IN THE CEREMONY: Christine Pham, Natasha Mesinkovska, Margit Juhasz, Kiana Hashemi, Tiana Mamaghani
NUTRITION PRIZE [JAPAN] Homei Miyashita and Hiromi Nakamura, for experiments to determine how electrified chopsticks and drinking straws can change the taste of food. REFERENCE: “Augmented Gustation Using Electricity,” Hiromi Nakamura and Homei Miyashita, Proceedings of the 2nd Augmented Human International Conference, March 2011, article 34. doi.org/10.1145/1959826.1959860 WHO TOOK PART IN THE CEREMONY: Homei Miyashita, Hiromi Nakamura
EDUCATION PRIZE [CHINA, CANADA, UK, THE NETHERLANDS, IRELAND, USA, JAPAN] Katy Tam, Cyanea Poon, Victoria Hui, Wijnand van Tilburg, Christy Wong, Vivian Kwong, Gigi Yuen, and Christian Chan, for methodically studying the boredom of teachers and students. REFERENCE: “Boredom Begets Boredom: An Experience Sampling Study on the Impact of Teacher Boredom on Student Boredom and Motivation,” Katy Y.Y. Tam, Cyanea Y. S. Poon, Victoria K.Y. Hui, Christy Y. F. Wong, Vivian W.Y. Kwong, Gigi W.C. Yuen, Christian S. Chan, British Journal of Educational Psychology, vol. 90, no. S1, June 2020, pp. 124-137. doi.org/10.1111/bjep.12549 REFERENCE: “Whatever Will Bore, Will Bore: The Mere Anticipation of Boredom Exacerbates its Occurrence in Lectures,” Katy Y.Y. Tam, Wijnand A.P. Van Tilburg, Christian S. Chan, British Journal of Educational Psychology, epub 2022. doi.org/10.1111/bjep.12549 WHO TOOK PART IN THE CEREMONY: Christian Chan, Katy Y.Y. Tam, Wijnand A.P. Van Tilburg
PSYCHOLOGY PRIZE [USA] Stanley Milgram, Leonard Bickman, and Lawrence Berkowitz for experiments on a city street to see how many passersby stop to look upward when they see strangers looking upward REFERENCE: “Note on the Drawing Power of Crowds of Different Size,” Stanley Milgram, Leonard Bickman, and Lawrence Berkowitz, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 13, no. 2, 1969, pp. 79-82. psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/h0028070 WHO TOOK PART IN THE CEREMONY: Len Bickman
PHYSICS PRIZE [SPAIN, GALICIA, SWITZERLAND, FRANCE, UK] Bieito Fernández Castro, Marian Peña, Enrique Nogueira, Miguel Gilcoto, Esperanza Broullón, Antonio Comesaña, Damien Bouffard, Alberto C. Naveira Garabato, and Beatriz Mouriño-Carballido, for measuring the extent to which ocean-water mixing is affected by the sexual activity of anchovies. REFERENCE: “Intense Upper Ocean Mixing Due to Large Aggregations of Spawning Fish,” Bieito Fernández Castro, Marian Peña, Enrique Nogueira, Miguel Gilcoto, Esperanza Broullón, Antonio Comesaña, Damien Bouffard, Alberto C. Naveira Garabato, and Beatriz Mouriño-Carballido, Nature Geoscience, vol. 15, 2022, pp. 287–292. doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-00916-3 WHO TOOK PART IN THE CEREMONY: Bieito Fernandez Castro, Beatriz Mouriño-Carballido, Alberto Naveira Garabato, Esperanza Broullon, Miguel Gil Coto
FOTD #114 : purple brittlegill! (russula atropurpurea)
the purple brittlegill (also blackish-purple russula) is a mycorrhizal fungus in the family russulaceae. it grows with both coniferous & deciduous trees !! it has been recorded in europe, asia & eastern north america. :-)
the big question : can i bite it?? yes, though it's not particularly recommended. it is said to taste.. hot?
r. atropurpurea description :
"the cap is 4–10 cm (1.5–4 in) in diameter. it is dark reddish purple, with a dark; sometimes almost black centre. at first it is convex, but later flattens, & often has a shallow depression. it can also be lighter in colour, or mottled yellowish. the stem is firm, white, & turns grey with age. it measures 3–6 cm in length & 1–2 cm in diameter. the closely set and fairly broad gills are adnexed to almost free, & pale cream, giving a spore print of the same colour."
[images : source & source] [fungus description : source]
working in a lab is cool and all but so much of your job is just waste clean up and washing dishes 💀
Willkommlangea reticulata
by Alison Pollack
Compressed Know-How: General Classifications used in Microbiology
Taxonomy - It is the systematic arrangement and classification of organisms into related groups
It can be divided into Kingdom and System Classifications.
Kingdom Classification used today is the 5 Kingdom formulated by Robert Whittaker. It contains the following: Animalia, Plantae, Protista (protozoa + algae), Fungi and Monera (bacteria).
Criteria used for the 5 Kingdom Classification:
Cell Type (Prokaryote or Eukaryote)
Cellular Organization (Unicellular or Multicellular)
Nutritional Type (based on Food Acquisition, Energy Source and Carbon Source)
System Classification can be either through Phenetic or Phylogenetic classifications.
Phenetic (Taximetrics) are based on their observable traits or overall similarities.
Eg. Morphology of bacteria, Staining reactions and Metabolic rate of bacteria.
Phylogenetic (Phyletic) is based on the evolutionary development and genetic composition. This will include the familiar taxonomic levels:
Domain
Kingdom
Phylum
Class
Order
Family
Genus
Species
Rules in properly naming bacteria:
In the Binomial System of Nomenclature, it involves the Genus' name, then species epithet eg. Staphylococcus aureus
The name should always be italicized or underlined
Genus' name: 1st letter is capitalized, and the only name that can be abbreviated. (S. aureus)
Species epithet: 1st letter is a small capital letter, or it can be all capitalized (STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS)
Common names of bacteria, as listed below:
Rosy bonnet mushroom, Mycena rosea Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
