Discover for the first time a symbiosis between algae and vertebrates

2010/11/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Botanika
• Zoologia

The embryos of the moñudo Ambystoma maculatum arrabio form the relationship of symbiosis within the cells with the Oophila amblystomatis algara. Specifically, researchers at the Dalhousic University of Canada have found algae near the mitochondria. Scientists have long known that algae is found in the outer gelatin of eggs, but so far they never saw it inside cells.

When analyzing the fluorescence images emitted, the researchers discovered that within embryonic cells there could be chlorophyll. Subsequently, mitochondria were observed to be next to the algae using electronic transmission microscopes. This suggests that mitochondria take advantage of the sugars and oxygen produced by photosynthesis.

In studies to learn more about this symbiosis relationship, it has been observed that algae enter embryonic cells at the time when the nervous system begins to form. Therefore, the researchers consider that they have not been detected before, since normally the embryos are analyzed in pre-development phases.

They also indicate that algae can be a "gift" from their mother. In fact, they have found the same algae in the embryonic cells and in the gift of the female who has placed them, in the tube that carries the eggs from the ovary out.