BacterioFiles 308 - Predators' Projectile Prototypes

Nematodinium nematocyst cap

Gavelis et al. 2017

Science Advances

CC BY-NC 4.0

This episode: Eukaryotic ocean microbes have surprisingly diverse and complex ballistic weapons!

Download Episode (8.2 MB, 9 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Mycoplasma arginini

Cool videos of microbial weapons firing

Journal Paper:
Gavelis GS, Wakeman KC, Tillmann U, Ripken C, Mitarai S, Herranz M, Özbek S, Holstein T, Keeling PJ, Leander BS. 2017. Microbial arms race: Ballistic “nematocysts” in dinoflagellates represent a new extreme in organelle complexity. Sci Adv 3:e1602552.

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