“This is the first case of an algae living symbiotically within a vertebrate, the team reports online today in the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences. How the photosynthesizing algae gets there, and how it survives inside the tissues and cells of this predominantly nocturnal amphibian is still baffling to scientists.”
This is one cool report. Folks seem to have this idea of the inviolate cell, but then we see examples like this – not only do the algae and salamander hang out together, but in the end, the algae becomes part of the salamander. Does this salamander (or the algae) have a regulatory mechanism to foster this mutualism? Or is this random and the algae and animal just tolerate it? I’m placing my bet on a mechanism, though not sure if it’s the algae or the salamander controlling this.
Bookmarked in Delicious.
