Green Algae - Glaucocystis [?]

[hkv]

I am a bit uncertain about the ID, but I believe it may be Glaucocystis. (Referring to the ball in the center of the image). 60XW, Stack of 22, DIC.

[75RR]

Very nice!

Can't say much about the ID other than it seems quite likely. Does the size correspond?

https://www.nature.com/articles/srep14735/figures/1

[charlie g]

Thank you for the beautiful image,hkv. Like 75RR, I sense your encounter is of Glaucocystis cells within the clear mother cell wall.

The rich colors you give us of the cells ..chromatophores, or protoplasts, or chloroplasts ( 1904 text,1950 text, and 1964 text I enjoyed visiting due your microscopy here!)..well they prompt me to ask you,hkv, about your color renditions with this image..? Do you think we alter colors in our image captures...I guess we do.

Specifically, all three texts I mentioned describe the chlorplast organelle colors as: "bright blue -green colour"/West text, " The protoplasts are bright blue-green"/Prescott text, "bright blue-green color"/Smith text.

I always think of: bright blue-green color...as that with more blue hue than this excellent image depicts..any thoughts on the color in this image hkv and others? again, thanks for your microscopy, hkv. charlie guevara

[75RR]

Had another look for info after reading charlie g's comments on colour:

http://www.algaebase.org/search/species ... c7c557f0fe

[charlie g]

Intresting,75RR,in your excellent link, the two bottom cells show the cyan hue I would expect for a: "bright blue-green color'...is it the tungsten filaments or oil-flames, or daylight of the 1904, 1950's, 1960's texts cited microscopy?

Any thoughts on the color you sense,hkv? charlie guevara

[actinophrys]

The blue-green in glaucophytes like Glaucocystis comes from phycobilins, the same pigment type as in cyanobacteria. In most pictures its chloroplasts or cyanelles are more lobed, and I'm sure they would never look so bright grass-green as here, where they are the same as the chloroplasts in the filament next to it.

This sort of colour is instead typical of true green algae (chlorophytes), plus groups with derived chloroplasts like euglenids. There are many types that form mucilaginous colonies, and I'm not sure how to be confident which this is, or if it is mature. But to at least give some examples, you might compare Gloeocystis or Asterococcus.

[gekko]

Superb images.

[hkv]

..well they prompt me to ask you,hkv, about your color renditions with this image..? Do you think we alter colors in our image captures...I guess we do.

No, I have not changed the color. I increased contrast and clarity, but not hue or white balance. Here is a singe frame from the stack straight out of the camera. No modification of any kind except for size.

[JimT]

HKV, I also agree with your ID. Given that they are quite rare this is a good find and rendered perfectly. Beautiful image.

[vasselle]

Bonjour
Magnifique photo
Cordialement seb

[hkv]

...and I'm not sure how to be confident which this is, or if it is mature. But to at least give some examples, you might compare Gloeocystis or Asterococcus.

Not convinced they match either... I tend to question my first ID based on the bright green color. I will continue to search...

[charlie g]

The blue-green in glaucophytes like Glaucocystis comes from phycobilins, the same pigment type as in cyanobacteria. In most pictures its chloroplasts or cyanelles are more lobed, and I'm sure they would never look so bright grass-green as here, where they are the same as the chloroplasts in the filament next to it.

This sort of colour is instead typical of true green algae (chlorophytes), plus groups with derived chloroplasts like euglenids. There are many types that form mucilaginous colonies, and I'm not sure how to be confident which this is, or if it is mature. But to at least give some examples, you might compare Gloeocystis or Asterococcus.

Yes, yes, hkv..your kind thread does it again...a brief visit with the Smith 1950 text: " ..a justification for accepting the view that the chloroplast-like structures in Glaucocystis are blue-green algae.".

The 1954 Prescott text: " five species of this genus ( Glaucocystis) involve an endophytic blue-green alga and a colorless member of the Oocystaceae in the Chlorophyta.".

The kind link 75RR gives in this thread does show in the lower two oval cells obvious blue-green entities..yet in the upper two cells..with full density of these intracellular structures..more green cells.

To my sense this is a Glaucocystis species..those possible species suggested by actinophrys have distinctly round cells in the texts I visit.

It's all with great enjoyment and great respect for this forums microscopists that I mentioned the colors evident in this image of hkv.

Regarding my puzzle with the quality of green of these cells...could.nt a lower mag. ( 20-40X objectives?) single best focus image capture give the 'net-color'/ overall color of these cells...rather than a stack of images for this cell? The microscopists whom all stated: "bright blue-green color", in their respective texts...well they did not image stack..they observed and with minds eye gave color descriptions.

All of this is wonderful microscopy for me...no heated claims do I assert for this organism's ID.." the plants are free floating in the tychoplankton near shore, or in shallow water habitats of swamps and bogs."/Presscott

Smith : "..usually found sparingly intermingled with other free floating algae in soft water regions."


thanks, hkv for this thread, charlie guevara

[actinophrys]

The 1954 Prescott text: " five species of this genus ( Glaucocystis) involve an endophytic blue-green alga and a colorless member of the Oocystaceae in the Chlorophyta.".

Prescott is very obsolete on that point, though. Glaucocystis is not a chlorophyte at all, but part of the separate little group Glaucophyta, related to them and to red algae. Its blue-green chloroplasts do ultimately come from cyanobacteria, but now we know that all chloroplasts do. It's just that the ones in glaucophytes have preserved a more ancestral form, and the ones in chlorophytes have changed more, including the loss of phycobilin pigments and appearance of chlorophyll b (part of the brighter green colour).

Not convinced they match either...

..those possible species suggested by actinophrys have distinctly round cells in the texts I visit.

Well, those genera were only examples, and it's easy to find others – for instance, if you want more plainly elongated cells, Oocystis or Nephrocytium (though the last are supposed to have at least 4 cells). But this brings up the trouble of knowing how reliable such features are. Should you trust cell shape that far, or might you find the odd colony where e.g. otherwise round cells become oval in preparation for dividing? I'm not sure.

What I can say for sure: colour tends to be very characteristic, because it is related to antenna pigments and so the underlying molecular set-up for photosynthesis. You do get algae that vary, like how some diatoms can be greenish, or have other non-photosynthetic pigments, like red in Haematococcus and some Euglena. As a rule, though, it's one of the first things to consider.

And at a lower level, chloroplast shape also tends to be an important characteristic in at least healthy cells. Here it is definitely not lobed like in Glaucocystis, but it's hard to make out exactly what it is instead, which I think might be necessary for identifying an actual genus. That's part of why I can only offer some similar representatives; it's possible someone who knows the group better could be more helpful.

[charlie g]

Yes, yes hkv..your thread did it again for me...thanks to actinophrys informative comments..I visited my 1986 text by philip sze (his text on it's cover uses all lower case spelling of words..hmm, Round has a varient of this 'style' on cover of his diatom text!?), and I visited my 1989 Robert Edward Lee text.


The blue-green algae serves as a chloroplast for the host cell in the group of algae termed Glaucophyta or Glaucophytes. Both chlorophyll a and the phycobiliproteins are present, however two of the blue-green algae carotinoids are absent. Of three phycobiliprotein pigments, the phycocyanin is usually responsible for the distinctive blue-green color of blue-green algae.

Blue-green algae in approximately 18% of lichens are the endosymbiots, a symbiotic Anabaena lives in cavities within the leaves of the water fern: Azolla, so this water fern (Azolla) is often grown in rice paddies to fertilize the rice plants. Blue-green algae often associate with protozoans, marine diatoms, bryophytes, and the roots of a few vascular plants.

The Glaucophytes are at a current state of enterprize with their 'on the way to being true chloroplasts'..symbiotic blue -green algae...err...cyanelles, where these cyanelles have no longer a possibility in Glaucocystis of living free of their host 'algae host cell'.

I sense the degree of pigment blend in the cells hkv depicts in this thread...well this is not a cut and dry rule out based on the color..of these cells being a splendid species of Glaucocystis. It gets wonderful to have my understanding of these Glaucophytes deeped by actinophrys...thank you! ( And then we have the 1975 discovery by Ralph Lewis of a prokaryotic algae, Prochloron, which has both chlorophyl a, and chlorophyl b, but lacks the phycobilins).

I sense...it's not easy being green, thanks to hkv and all in this thread. charlie guevara

[billben74]

That is a fine use of the DIC. Stunning

[billben74]

Love the greeness.