Open Science Projects

Luminescent bacterial colonies of V. harveyi and P. phosphorum.

Notice that the room is actually dark this time. 

Luminescent Vibrio harveyi moving through soft marine agar

Seen in this timelapse sequence: a blue glow of bioluminescent species of bacteria including Vibrio harveyi, Vibrio fischerii, and Photobacterium phosphorum.

What are the P. phosphorum bacteria doing in test tubes on the right?

They flicker in in the culture like an inverted blue flame.  I have to wonder if some quorum sensing system is coupled to motility, or if the P. phosphorum are somehow connected in the culture. 

(speculation)

Maybe the bacteria are exploring compromises in nutrient and oxygen content.

San Diego surfer on luminescent wave.

Red tide Dinoflagellates bioluminesce as the surfer disturbs the water.

(not my video)

Time lapse movie of luminescent bacteria.  Vibrio harveyi species are on the left (4 tubes) and the two tubes on the right are Photobacterium phosphorum.

At the air/medium interface V. harveyi forms a luminescent pellicle under these static growth conditions (28*C) in marine medium in glass tubes.

Photos were taken with a Canon XSi.  Exposures every ten minutes or so.

(This early sequence has some color defects and doesn’t capture brightness properly.  These glass tubes were inherited from another lab, and they had spots that reflect the light.)