Light Waves? In class you were asked to observe an unusual b…

Light Waves? In class you were asked to observe an unusual biological phenomenon (e.g. a black lemur self-anointing with a millipede) and then hypothesize what you thought could be happening.  Time to do that again, only this time with the phenomenon of bioluminescent waves.   In some parts of the ocean humans can see a mysterious glow.  This glow is usually intensified by movement; swimming, surfing, or boating through it makes the glow more intense.  Scientists have discovered that the glow is caused by dinoflagellates living in the water. Dinoflagellates float near the surface of the sea where they make a living via photosynthesis and the ingestion of other types of phytoplankton; dinoflagellates in turn get eaten by copepods, small marine crustaceans. Dinoflagellates have special structures called scintillons inside their vacuoles that generate this light using an enzyme called luciferase.  Generating this eerie blue-green light costs energy and resources. Interestingly, they only generate this light at night and only in response to motion. 

What do these three practices all share in common? (A) Phosp…

What do these three practices all share in common? (A) Phosphatase treatment of cut plasmid before ligation of a DNA insert that has compatible ends. (B) Cutting both plasmid and DNA insert with two enzymes which don’t produce compatible ends for each other. (C) Ligating the insert within the coding sequence of a lacZ gene that is already within the plasmid.