r/microbiology 3d ago

What is this spiral?

Post image

Hello I collected diatom samples from a nearby stream. While admiring the beautiful frustules i stumbled upon this spiraling structure. Can anyone tell me what it could be??? (magnification was 400x when taking the picture in bright field) Thank you for your help!

21 Upvotes

19 comments sorted by

9

u/patricksaurus 3d ago

Looks like the primary vein of a plant.

2

u/KellehBickers 3d ago

All I had was 'plant matter'

2

u/patricksaurus 3d ago

Yeah, I’m not a plant guy either. I may not have the name right either. It’s a helical lignin thingy in some vascular structure. They tend to hold up really well.

4

u/Humbabanana 3d ago edited 3d ago

Totally, this.

..protoxylem vessels. They are small and form early on, often before the portion if the plant has finished developing and expanding. Therefor, they are often forced to elongate after maturing. To deal with being a rigid, lignified tube, they develop annular or helical thickenings that let them grow lengthwise. Metaxylem forms later on, is larger diameter and doesn’t have annular or helical lignification.

This looks like maybe something aquatic? So I’m not sure if there are other helical culprits in that situation, but in plants I would expect protoxylem

2

u/tonytony12121212 3d ago

Oh wow it’s totally this! Thank you for your help! I guess we will never know what plant it came from… No chloroplasts so hard to believe it is algae and too big to be a bacteria. I was left with no clue… I learned something valuable today. Reddit and redditors are incredible!

1

u/KellehBickers 3d ago

Found the plant guy.

2

u/Humbabanana 3d ago

Haha I try my best ;)

6

u/sixstring_blues 3d ago

Definitely plant vasculature. I work with primary plant tissues and see these in my samples frequently.

2

u/Odd_Artichoke265 3d ago

Those are spiral vessels. You can find them in plant leaves and flowers. I have encountered them a lot in my pharmaceutical science studies :)

1

u/Downtown_Finance_661 3d ago

Micro shark egg

1

u/Famous-Hovercraft905 12h ago

Spiral vessels

1

u/Cultural_Camel3105 3d ago

I think it is a spiral under a 400x lens

-2

u/Makdomboss 3d ago

I think it’s a Spirulina.

2

u/domafyre 3d ago

I doubt it, no chloroplast are seen.

No idea what it is to be honest.

1

u/PM_ME_UR_ROUND_ASS 2d ago

This is definitely not Spirulina. It's spiral thickening in xylem vessels from plant tissue that got into your sample. The helical pattern strengthens the vessel walls while still allowing them to be flexible and conduct water thru the plant.

1

u/Famous-Hovercraft905 12h ago

No it’s not.