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Didymosphenia geminata cells, when secreting excessive exopolysaccharide stalks, can coalesce and form blooms that affect their local community. It is unknown what causes D. geminata cells to produce stalk, as not all D. geminata cells do produce stalk. Natural growth patterns and the potential for D. geminata cells to utilize a population dynamic such as quorum sensing to begin to produce stalk was tested through placement of microscope slides in Copper Creek and the East River (to observe undisturbed growth over time) and observations of stalk production based on compartmentalized D. geminata populations of different cell densities (8, 80, 800, and 8000 cells/cm2), to monitor how cell density affects stalk production. Statistical analyses found that stalk production (measured by the frequency of cells with stalks, or FSC) was significantly different due to differing cell densities, and that after a threshold of approximately 15 cells/cm2, the rate of change of FSC changed, indicating that cell density does affect stalk production.
Knowledge graph centered on Growth Tendencies in <i>Didymosphenia geminata</i> with 15 nodes and 51 connections. Top connected: Gothic, Bacteria, East River, Copper Creek, Didymosphenia geminata.
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