fairfolio
Saved Projects

The Effect of Varying Amounts of Calcium on the Bioluminescence Mechanisms of Marine Dinoflagellates

CSEF · 2002 Microbiology

Daniel Zimardi · Los Gatos High School, Los Gatos

Overview

Objectives/Goals My study is on the bioluminescence of Pyrocystis fusiformis. P. fusiformis is a bioluminescent dinoflagellate capable of using chemical reactions to produce a brilliant blue light after receiving a mechanical stimulus. My objective was to find a chemical that when introduced to the dinoflagellate cell would hinder the bioluminescence. Methods/Materials In order for the chemical reactions to occur several ions are needed. The most important is calcium. In order for me to hinder the bioluminescence I decided to use a calcium chelator to tie up the calcium in the media. After researching many different chelators, I found that EGTA was the most efficient as well as the least harmful to the dinoflagellates. I used different concentrations of EGTA to vary the amounts of calcium removed. After supplying the EGTA to the dinoflagellates I mechanically tested their bioluminescence. Results I noticed that concentrations ranging from .1M up to 1M were capable of reducing the level of bioluminescence produced. In order to make sure that the dinoflagellates were not affected pathologically by the EGTA I observed them under a microscope. I noticed something different between the cells with different concentrations of EGTA. The chemical reactions are housed in specialized structures called scintillons. What I noticed was that higher concentrations of EGTA caused the scintillons to remain around the nucleus instead of throughout the cell. Conclusions/Discussion After reviewing my results I noticed that EGTA concentrations of .1M and higher began to hinder the bioluminescence of the dinoflagellates. I also noticed that the specialized bioluminescence structures varied their positions within the cell depending on the amount of EGTA the cells were given. This may be due to a conservation of energy or that calcium is required for these structures to move about the cell (via microtubules).

Summary statement

I found a way to deprive dinoflagellates of calcium ion and therefore hindering their ability to produce bioluminescence.

Help received

Sunnyside Sea Farms answered any dinoflagellate culturing questions.

Awards (1)

  • Category Award

Competition history

  • CSEF 2002 Microbiology · Entry S1327

Resources

Related projects

Closest projects by meaning, across every fair and year in the corpus.

Browse more like this

Source: California Science & Engineering Fair public projects

Save projects to your library

Sign in with Google to keep track of projects you find interesting, organized into folders. An account also raises your daily allowance for “Has this been done?”, and lets you create a key for the MCP server with a much higher limit than anonymous use. Browsing stays public.

Continue with Google