Assignment
Pick one of the following topics and write a primary post of at least 125 words addressing that topic. Also, please make a substantive reply to one of your fellow students.
Topic 1. Cooperative relationships between microorganisms. Gearin (2016) describes cooperative relationships between different species of microscopic organisms called syntrophy. Answer the following two questions about this arrangement:
(a) What are the main characteristics of their partnership?
(b) How does each species benefit?
Topic 2. The Hawaiian Bobtail Squid and its bacterial endosymbiont. In a 4 minute video clip (iBioEducation, 2013), Bonnie Bassler explains the relationship between the Hawaiian Bobtail squid and it's endosymbiont, the bacterium Vibrio fisheri. Answer the following two questions about this arrangement:
(a) What are the main characteristics of the partnership between these two species?
(b) How does each species benefit?
Topic 3. Virus Reassortment and the Alaska Connection. Read the article from MIT News (Trafton, 2017) about tracking the spread of bird flu. Address the following:
(a) The Trafton (2017) article describes genetic reassortment of influenza viruses. Explain how genetic reassortment works and what the significance of it is for humans and for domestic fowl.
(b) The article explains that one way that influenza strains enters North America is through Alaska. Explain how that works and what the significance of it is for humans and for domestic fowl.
References:
Gearin, C. (2016, April 20). The search for superorganisms.
iBioEducation (2013). Quorum sensing in bacteria - Bonnie Bassler. [Video clip].
Trafton, A. (2017, March 17). Tracking the spread of bird flu. MIT News.