Figure 2. Algal-bacterial co-cultures.
(a) Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image of E. huxleyi (CCMP3266) pure algal culture. (b) SEM image of P. inhibens (DMS17395) pure bacterial culture. (c) Overlay image of a pure culture of P. inhibens bacteria (phase contrast microscopy, grey) stained with a fluorescent lectin (Alexa Fluor 488 conjugated lectin, green). (d) Bacteria grown in L1-Si medium in the absence (grey bars) and presence (green bars) of algae over 20 days. Error bars represent the standard deviation of two biological replicates. (e) SEM image of cells from an algal-bacterial co-culture. (f) Phase contrast microscopy imaging of live co-culture samples (grey) overlaid with images of the fluorescent lectin (Alexa Fluor 488 conjugated lectin, green) showing increasing numbers of bacteria attaching onto algal cells over time. (g) Quantification of algal cells with attached bacteria as a function of time, n > 300. Error bars represent the standard deviation between the multiple examined fields. (h) Quantification of the number of attached bacteria per algal cell as a function of time, n > 300. Error bars represent the standard deviation between the multiple examined fields. All scale bars in the figure correspond to 1 µm. Statistical significance was calculated using a Student’s T-test and p values are presented above datasets.