Lab 8:Community Interactions
Images Credit: Dr. Wesley Dubbs
Low magnification soybean root nodule cross section (40X total magnification):
Soybean root nodule containing nitrogen fixing Rhizobium bacteria.
Note the blue-stained central core of nitrogen fixing soybean plant cells “infected” with Rhizobium bacteria surrounded by the peripheral uninfected cortex (C).
High magnification soybean root nodule cross section (1000X total magnification):
Soybean root cells containing nitrogen fixing Rhizobium bacteria. Note the plant cells containing a single nucleus (N) and the many many tiny Rhizobium bacteria, stained red (R).
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Lichen fruiting body (Cladonia spp.):
Note the small cup shaped structures that produces the reproductive spores for the fungus portion of the lichen.
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Physcia lichen (400X total magnification):
Physcia lichen thallus cross section. Note the cells of the fungi (stained purple/pink) and those of the algae (green).
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Termite Gut Symbionts (100X total magnification):
Contents from a termite gut. Note the large cells of the genus Trichonympha, the most common type of flagellate in the termite gut. Note those organisms with nuclei (N)
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Human Red Blood Cells. Some containing Plasmodium (400X total magnification):
Note the “regular” red blood cells which lack nuclei. Also note the red blood cells infected with the protist Plasmodium (P). Plasmodium is the causative agent of malaria.
