Willow Science

Laboratory: a place that gets you in the mood… for science! 

© Willow Science 2012 

Vicky x

Right, so the protozoan, Acanthamoeba, an organism which is well known to cause disease of the eye, skin, and brain, is able to form itself into a cyst… which is great… well, at least for the protozoan it is, as this structure, can actually, help it survive during very long periods of dry conditions… over 20 years in some cases!

Hmm, so you see, dormancy, can, sometimes, have major benefits… for microbes… but not, however, for fellow vampires… especially those who’ve been recently hired (at shockingly, unholy rates), to de-moss Vicky’s crypt… and… err… de-snail her cabbages!

References;

Murray, P.R., Rosenthal, K.S., Kobayashi, G.S., Pfaller, M.A. Ed. (2002) Medical Microbiology 4^th ed. Mosby, Inc.

Prescott, L.M., Harley, J.P., Klein, D.A. Ed. (1996) Microbiology 3^rd ed. Wm. C. Brown Publishers.

Sriram, R., Shoff, M., Booton, G., Fuerst, P., Visvesvara, G.S. (2008) Survival of Acanthamoeba cysts after desiccation for more than 20 years. J. Clin. Microbiol. 46(12):4045-4048.

© Willow Science 2011

Vicky x