Today we set up a lab to understand sexual reproduction in Tetrahymena protists. Usually they undergo asexual reproduction but occasionally bond with a mate to help "revive" their genetic composition...roughly every 200 generations. In Tetrahymena, there are 7 different mating types (contrast to only 2 in humans). We mated an unknown sample with each of the 7 types and tomorrow we will observe them under the scopes to witness how they undergo the swapping of their genetic materials. Above, Luke and Dillon mix the samples in today's portion of the lab.
Bottom photo courtesy Mr. Syracuse's classes and their snazzy digital microscopes.