_(cropped).jpg)
[originally posted on 18.06.10 1:45am]
[EDIT 23.07.10: Btw, this mystery micrograph is still unsolved. Get crackin'. Ask questions if you need to.]
Apologies for the delay. To buy myself some time, I'll make it a really hard one this time. Like, a TEM. Bwahahaa. I'll give you a hint: these are not moth antennae.
[EDIT 23.07.10: Btw, this mystery micrograph is still unsolved. Get crackin'. Ask questions if you need to.]
Apologies for the delay. To buy myself some time, I'll make it a really hard one this time. Like, a TEM. Bwahahaa. I'll give you a hint: these are not moth antennae.
Scalebars: 1um. To be referenced later.
Ultrastructure is particularly evil. Because it shows cells (cell slices) as they are, rather than how the researcher or artist thinks they are.
[25.06.10 HINT]: These structures are a synapomorphy/unique shared feature of one specific group of organisms.
[25.06.10 HINT]: These structures are a synapomorphy/unique shared feature of one specific group of organisms.
It's a microfeather!
ReplyDeleteRight - small protists = small feathers =P
ReplyDeleteI guess I should release a hint or something eventually...?
OK, lessee (dangit I should know this stuff).
ReplyDeleteHydrogenosomes. Anaerobic protist.
Axostyle. Trichomonad or oxymonad.
More than one of 'em. Probably a "hypermastigote" type of trichomonad.
Feathery pelta? OK, I don't have one of those in the library ...
Third image from the left?
Going pretty good there, all the way until and including Hypermastigote.
ReplyDeleteThese structures are a variation of something very characteristic...
Is it [i]Joenina[/i]?
ReplyDeleteHow large is the taxon for which these structures are a synaptomorphy? As large as a domain, say?
ReplyDeleteIs it a section through a Kinetoplast? Although I had to squint to see a resemblance.
ReplyDelete@Paul Close enough. Joenoides. So what are those feather-like structures?
ReplyDelete@anon Nah; just Parabasalia in general. I'm not sure what the official rank of that taxon is, as I reject ranked taxonomy ;-)
@Douglas No, kinetoplasts are very "hockey puck"-like. Like a super-dense disk of loopy things (chromosomes).
"So what are those feather-like structures?"
ReplyDeleteThey are the 'parabasal fibers' - composed of numerous subfibers that spread through the cytoplasm and are associated with the Golgi.
At least, that's my assumption. I wasn't able to get the journal article that I imagine the pictures are from: Ultrastructure of Joenoides intermedia (Grassé 1952), a symbiotic parabasalid flagellate of Hodotermes mossambicus, and its comparison with other joeniid genera. I had to make an educated guess from the abstract.
Yup, very cool-looking parabasal fibres!
ReplyDeleteActually this is from Brugerolle & Bordereau 2003 Eur J Prot (http://dx.doi.org/10.1078/0932-4739-00898), which should be easier to access than the older paper. If not, and if you'd like, I can send you a pdf if interested ^^
I don't have access to that journal. I'd appreciate the pdf - looks really interesting. I'm a bacteria guy, so I really don't have much protozoa experience. I'm always blown away by how complex protozoa are. If you could send me the pdf to pworthen(at)whazel.com, that would be great.
ReplyDelete