Chlorella is a tiny single-cell algae however it has many interesting characteristics. It belongs to the phylum chlorophyta, which is a division of green algae. Its appearance is very inconspicuous. It has a spherical shape and is only around 2 to 10 μm, so you can’t actually see it without a microscope. It has no flagella and is green as it contains chloroplast. In the picture we can see its physical appearance. Because chlorella contains chloroplast it is able to photosynthesis. Through photosynthesis it multiplies rapidly and to be able to reproduce it only needs carbon dioxide, water, sunlight and small quantities of minerals. ‘Chloros’ is Greek and means green and ‘ella’ is a Latin suffix and means small.
Chlorella was often used for researches or for other scientific work. Otto Heinrich Warburg was a German biochemist and cell physiologist, who received the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1931 for his research on cell respiration, which included photosynthesis in chlorella. Melvin Calvin was another scientist who used chlorella in his research. In 1961 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry for his research on pathways of carbon dioxide assimilation in plants using chlorella.
In history chlorella became famous in the 1950s. Due to the human population boom there wasn’t enough food for everyone and chlorella was seen as a new and promising primary food source as it is high in protein and other important nutrients. In dried chlorella you can find 45% protein, 20% carbohydrates, 5% fibre and 10% minerals and vitamins. Mass-production methods have been used to cultivate it. There were also studies that suggested that chlorella supplementation had a positive effect on reduction of Dixon levels in breast milk. Chlorella is also used in other parts of alternative medicine. It is consumed in the United States and Canada as health supplement and as food supplement it is consumed in Japan. A number of studies also show that chlorella has positive health effects, for example it is thought to have an ability to treat cancer.
Another important thing about chlorella is that it photosynthesis a lot and therefore 8m squared of chlorella could remove carbon dioxide of a sealed container and replace it with enough oxygen for one human.
Nowadays Chlorella isn’t used much anymore fore food production as in the 1940s the food problem was solved by better crop efficiency like sugar cane. Chlorella isn’t that popular anymore but you can still buy it from companies that promote it as ‘super-food’.
Paramecium is a genus of unicellular ciliate protozoa and it is a representative of the ciliate group, which is a group of protozoans, which all have cilia. Paramecium is widespread in freshwater, brackish and marine environment. Some species of it are readily cultivated and easily induced to conjugate and divide so that they can be widely used to study biological processes. Parameciums were among the first ciliates to be seen by microscopists in the last 17th century.
Paramecium ranges in size from 50 to 330 mm in length and normally they have an ovoid shape, which you can also see on the picture below. The body of the cell is enclosed by pellicle (a stiff but elastic membrane) and is covered by cilia (hair like organelles, which act like tiny oars to move the organism in one direction. Paramecium also have a deep oral groove running from anterior of the cell to its midpoint lined with cilia which beat continuously, drawing food inside the cell. They live by heterotrophy that is feeding on bacteria and their osmoregulation (active regulation of the osmotic pressure of an organism's fluids to maintain the homeostasis of the organism's water content[1]) is carried it by the vacuoles contracting, which expels water from the cell to compensate for fluid absorbed by osmosis from its surrounding. The number of vacuoles depends on the species and can vary from one to many.
To move the paramecium makes whiplash movements with its cilia and like this it spirals through water. If it encounters into something, it will swim backwards and then resume its forward movement. It will repeat this process until it has past the obstacle.
Paramecium feed on microorganisms like bacteria, algae and yeast. To gather food it uses its cilia to sweep prey organisms, along with water, through the oral groove and into the mouth opening. When enough food has accumulated, a vacuole forms in the cytoplasm. Then enzymes enter the vacuole to digest the contents and when it is fully digested the vacuole reaches the anal pore. Then it ruptures and all its waste products get expelled to the environment.
Paramecium reproduce asexually by binary fission. In the asexual phase of growth, clonal aging occurs leading to a gradual loss of vitality. If they don’t undergo autogamy or conjugation, some species lose their vitality after 200 fissions.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osmoregulation
Chlorella was often used for researches or for other scientific work. Otto Heinrich Warburg was a German biochemist and cell physiologist, who received the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1931 for his research on cell respiration, which included photosynthesis in chlorella. Melvin Calvin was another scientist who used chlorella in his research. In 1961 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry for his research on pathways of carbon dioxide assimilation in plants using chlorella.
In history chlorella became famous in the 1950s. Due to the human population boom there wasn’t enough food for everyone and chlorella was seen as a new and promising primary food source as it is high in protein and other important nutrients. In dried chlorella you can find 45% protein, 20% carbohydrates, 5% fibre and 10% minerals and vitamins. Mass-production methods have been used to cultivate it. There were also studies that suggested that chlorella supplementation had a positive effect on reduction of Dixon levels in breast milk. Chlorella is also used in other parts of alternative medicine. It is consumed in the United States and Canada as health supplement and as food supplement it is consumed in Japan. A number of studies also show that chlorella has positive health effects, for example it is thought to have an ability to treat cancer.
Another important thing about chlorella is that it photosynthesis a lot and therefore 8m squared of chlorella could remove carbon dioxide of a sealed container and replace it with enough oxygen for one human.
Nowadays Chlorella isn’t used much anymore fore food production as in the 1940s the food problem was solved by better crop efficiency like sugar cane. Chlorella isn’t that popular anymore but you can still buy it from companies that promote it as ‘super-food’.
Paramecium is a genus of unicellular ciliate protozoa and it is a representative of the ciliate group, which is a group of protozoans, which all have cilia. Paramecium is widespread in freshwater, brackish and marine environment. Some species of it are readily cultivated and easily induced to conjugate and divide so that they can be widely used to study biological processes. Parameciums were among the first ciliates to be seen by microscopists in the last 17th century.
Paramecium ranges in size from 50 to 330 mm in length and normally they have an ovoid shape, which you can also see on the picture below. The body of the cell is enclosed by pellicle (a stiff but elastic membrane) and is covered by cilia (hair like organelles, which act like tiny oars to move the organism in one direction. Paramecium also have a deep oral groove running from anterior of the cell to its midpoint lined with cilia which beat continuously, drawing food inside the cell. They live by heterotrophy that is feeding on bacteria and their osmoregulation (active regulation of the osmotic pressure of an organism's fluids to maintain the homeostasis of the organism's water content[1]) is carried it by the vacuoles contracting, which expels water from the cell to compensate for fluid absorbed by osmosis from its surrounding. The number of vacuoles depends on the species and can vary from one to many.
To move the paramecium makes whiplash movements with its cilia and like this it spirals through water. If it encounters into something, it will swim backwards and then resume its forward movement. It will repeat this process until it has past the obstacle.
Paramecium feed on microorganisms like bacteria, algae and yeast. To gather food it uses its cilia to sweep prey organisms, along with water, through the oral groove and into the mouth opening. When enough food has accumulated, a vacuole forms in the cytoplasm. Then enzymes enter the vacuole to digest the contents and when it is fully digested the vacuole reaches the anal pore. Then it ruptures and all its waste products get expelled to the environment.
Paramecium reproduce asexually by binary fission. In the asexual phase of growth, clonal aging occurs leading to a gradual loss of vitality. If they don’t undergo autogamy or conjugation, some species lose their vitality after 200 fissions.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osmoregulation