Foraminiferans and Evolution (Foram what? This is Rudolph's version)

Dr. Sam Bowser from the National Institutes of Health gave an interesting lecture on one-celled creatures called foraminiferans (these are in the Protist kingdom). The specific ones he studies construct an outer “shell” made of sand sediments and they can be as large as one centimeter above the sand with a buried part of one centimeter below the sand and some of them are even as large as a pinkie finger. That’s pretty amazing considering they are only one celled!

They are studying these because they think they may be linked to the ancestors (or gave rise to) of multicellular organisms…mainly animals. They are also interested in their skeletonization properties (however, not all foraminiferans make skeleton-like shells). During his lecture he mentioned an interesting book written by Stephen J. Gould called the Single Celled Hero. He also showed us a picture of a letter written by Charles Darwin that stated Darwin’s enthusiasm for forams and also his intrigue in them. Who would have thought forams have been intriguing for so long? This link to Darwin launched him into the studies being done pertaining to evolutionary biology, specifically molecular clock studies. He said they have located an amino acid substitution in a protein that allows them to have “antifreeze” capabilities (hence, why they do not die here). He also said that these molecular clock studies are being done to tie in the theory that forams led to multicellular creatures under predation pressure.

The last crazy justification he gave for studying forams is that they may provide clues for improving nanotechnology. He said that some species maintain an exact morphology and build the same skeleton. Others seem to build a skeleton network that is impacted by their surroundings. One experiment they did was to take a foram out of its skeleton and provide glass beads for it to rebuild with. The protoplasm and psuedopods picked up the glass beads, transported it along its cell network and built a new skeleton! They said they might be able to use these guys to build very tiny structures. Cool, huh!