GoKawiilBiologists working from a motel room identify two new Paulinella microbe species
Julia Van Etten led a team that set up a makeshift lab in a motel room after losing funding, and discovered two previously unknown species of the rare single-celled microbe Paulinella. The findings, published in the Journal of Phycology, bring the total known Paulinella species to six. Scientists say the organism shows a relatively recent instance, about 100 million years ago, of one cell engulfing a photosynthetic bacterium rather than digesting it.
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Researchers including Angela Oliverio of Syracuse University say Paulinella offers a rare living snapshot of the same kind of merger that, 1.5 billion years ago, is believed to have given rise to chloroplasts and enabled plant photosynthesis. Because that ancient event was thought to be unique, finding a second, more recent example could help scientists understand how such symbiotic mergers occur and evolve. The circumstances of the discovery also highlight how funding disruptions can push researchers toward improvised, low-cost methods to continue their work.
- Team found two new species of the microbe Paulinella while working out of a motel room lab
- Discovery raises known Paulinella species count to six, published in Journal of Phycology
- Paulinella shows an in-progress photosynthetic merger, echoing the billion-year-old origin of chloroplasts
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Published there as: “Rag Tag Team of Biologists Who Lost Funding Because of Trump Turned a Motel Room into Makeshift Lab and Made a Groundbreaking Discovery”
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