Category Archives: Chlorella Virus Project

Endosybionts in a tent.

Posted on October 26, 2014 by SubOptimist

I spent last night camping in the backyard with the kids.  As the slept next to me in the tent, with the rush of the freeway almost perfectly simulating a rushing river (except for the occasional motorcycle… giant Jurassic dragonflies??) … Continue reading →

Posted in Chlorella Virus Project | Tagged , | Leave a comment

An algivorous heliozoan?

Posted on October 21, 2014 by SubOptimist

Those round green structures inside what looks like an empty Spirogyra looked (at higher magnification) just like Acanthocystis. Acanthocystis (or at least Acanthocystis turfacae) is algaivorous and takes on Chlorella endosymbionts. (reference) There are two types of Chlorella that support … Continue reading →

Posted in Algae, Chlorella Virus Project, garage science | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Notes on: Behavior of a virus in a symbiotic system, Paramecium bursaria-Zoochlorella. 1978

Posted on October 19, 2014 by SubOptimist

Endosymbiotic Chlorella do not appear to be infected because: “In contrast to the ingested cells, the zoochlorellae growing symbiotically within the cytoplasm of the ciliate were free of detectable particles” Apparently Chlorella “free and in the wild” wasn’t obviously infected … Continue reading →

Posted in Algae, Chlorella Virus Project | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Centrifugation!

Posted on October 16, 2014 by SubOptimist

I can spin down Chlorella cells! 10′ in the clinical centrifuges from the Biology lab:

Posted in Algae, Chlorella Virus Project, garage science | Leave a comment

The plating efficiency of Chlorella: so far, its zero

Posted on October 11, 2014 by SubOptimist

Several weeks ago it occurred to me that I need to answer some really basic questions on my own in order to become more experienced about Chlorella and how it grows, so the first one I decided to ask is: … Continue reading →

Posted in Algae, Chlorella Virus Project | Leave a comment

No shortcuts

Posted on September 21, 2014 by SubOptimist

The fact that Chlorella grows so slowly isn’t a problem for me personally, I don’t have time to attend to this stuff every day so it kind of works out nicely.  BUT, if I want to come up with projects … Continue reading →

Posted in Algae, Chlorella Virus Project, garage science | Tagged | Leave a comment

Like an autotroph from the ashes

Posted on September 14, 2014 by SubOptimist

My my my, how fast 6 months can go by.  Due to extracurricular insanity, I wasn’t able to move any of this forward, but have recently picked it up again. It might be good to restate what I am trying … Continue reading →

Posted in Chlorella Virus Project | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Counting algae

Posted on March 7, 2014 by SubOptimist

When you are trying to do research at a community college, the little things can be challenging.  Like counting cells.  Pretty soon its going to be really important that I be able to count algal cells pretty danged accurately in … Continue reading →

Posted in Algae, Chlorella Virus Project | 8 Comments

Chlorella Virus: NOT big and plodding

Posted on December 17, 2013 by SubOptimist

Chlorella Virus has been challenging my stereotypes once again.  In addition to the “bigger genome therefore bigger virus particle” assumption,  I was clearly guilty of a “bigger virus therefore slow at replicating” assumption too.  Its nothing I though explicitly, in … Continue reading →

Posted in Chlorella Virus Project | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

A context for Chlorella Viruses: Size

Posted on December 17, 2013 by SubOptimist

Chlorella viruses are big.  Consider the titles of the following review papers dealing with them: The Phycodnaviridae: The Story of How Tiny Giants Rule the World DNA Viruses: The Really Big Ones (Giruses) Structures of giant icosahedral eukaryotic dsDNA viruses There are two … Continue reading →

Posted in Chlorella Virus Project | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment