# the death of a single-cell organism **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 20, 2019, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-death-of-a-single-cell-organism/829890 "2019-02-20T12:54:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-death-of-a-single-cell-organism/829890/1 "2019-02-20T12:54:41Z")
Microscopic video of a single-cell organism dying: Substantial portions fall off of it within the first 30 seconds while it continues its struggle to survive, and then around 1:10 it just...melts. viewer reactions range from "meh" to profound sadness. A friend of the poster [created an art print based on the video.](https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/protozoaprincess/death-of-a-cell/) It does raise some interesting questions and thoughts. Death isn't a boundary to be crossed, it's a process to be undergone. This creature didn't die during the first 30 seconds of the video, but it definitely was doomed after that. Even the final meltdown wasn't an instant "pop," it took several seconds, during which the cilia (the ones that were still attached, anyway) continued trying to swim. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-death-of-a-single-cell-organism/829890/2 "2019-02-20T13:46:41Z")
I see it as a sequel to the Arthur Miller play. “Biff” will be played by a paramecium. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-death-of-a-single-cell-organism/829890/3 "2019-02-20T18:57:03Z")
Cell deaths can be [pretty weird](https://www.flickr.com/photos/nihgov/20950009478). ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2019, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-death-of-a-single-cell-organism/829890/4 "2019-02-21T01:23:01Z")
luckily single celled organisms can’t feel pain. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2019, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-death-of-a-single-cell-organism/829890/5 "2019-02-21T07:10:51Z")
In the primordial soup no one hears you scream. Dennis ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2019, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-death-of-a-single-cell-organism/829890/6 "2019-02-21T16:20:40Z")
Do protozoa die of “old age?” I was under the impression that they divide into two at some point and are effectively immortal unless eaten or killed. How did the paramecium-like cell in the video die? Do we know? ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2019, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-death-of-a-single-cell-organism/829890/7 "2019-02-21T16:50:09Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > In the primordial soup no one hears you scream. > > Dennis Wow, that’s profound. No, seriously. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2019, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-death-of-a-single-cell-organism/829890/8 "2019-02-21T17:02:14Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > In the primordial soup no one hears you scream. In fact, scientists have recently developed a device specifically to hear the dying screams of bacteria that have been exposed to antibiotics. [https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-12063-6](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-12063-6) > [@](#): > > This report presents an approach for rapidly sensing mechanical fluctuations of bacteria and the effects of antibiotics on these fluctuations…Mechanical fluctuations of cells introduce time-dependent perturbations to the crystal boundary conditions and associated resonant frequency, which translate into phase noise measured at the output of the bridge…In experiments on the same bacterial strain exposed to ampicillin, frequency noise began decreasing within 15 minutes of antibiotic introduction and proceeded to drop more rapidly with the onset of antibiotic-induced lysis… **these results provide evidence that cell death can be sensed through measurements of cell-generated frequency noise** … ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2019, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-death-of-a-single-cell-organism/829890/9 "2019-02-21T17:22:10Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > Do protozoa die of “old age?” I was under the impression that they divide into two at some point and are effectively immortal unless eaten or killed. > > How did the paramecium-like cell in the video die? Do we know? One of the commenters in the video accused the poster of “murdering” the creature with the microscope’s light. Indeed, it seems [this particular species can be killed by exposure to intense light,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blepharisma#Photobiology) so that may be what happened. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2019, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-death-of-a-single-cell-organism/829890/10 "2019-02-21T17:33:04Z")
I’m kind interested to know how it survived for so long after a bunch of cytoplasm spewed out from both ends at the beginning. A common technical definition for “life” is the existence of [membrane potential](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Membrane_potential), which obviously depends upon an intact plasma membrane. I would have expected it to be all over immediately once the plasma membrane ruptured so badly, yet the cilia were still clearly very active and it hung on for a long while. It seemed as though the ruptures resealed somehow. Perhaps the plasma membrane spontaneously reformed, although presumably not whatever exterior wall that type of cell has. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2019, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-death-of-a-single-cell-organism/829890/11 "2019-02-21T18:40:39Z")
It sounds too sad to watch. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2019, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-death-of-a-single-cell-organism/829890/12 "2019-02-21T18:50:07Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > It sounds too sad to watch. ☹ Consider how many millions of fellow travelers are condemned by the act of pooping. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2019, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-death-of-a-single-cell-organism/829890/13 "2019-02-21T20:17:44Z")
Okay, [these guys](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blepharisma) contain a class of molecules called [blepharismins](http://photobiology.info/LenciCiliates.html) which are very photosensitive, and trigger the protist to move away from bright lights. The blepharismins [have a second trait](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/24750263.2017.1353145) of being destructive to cell membranes. The blepharismins are stored in [cortical granules](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortical_granule) that can be deliberately ejected from the cell. The idea is probably to eject some of those when another cell is trying to eat you, hoping that it will eat those and die. So that first “spewing of cytoplasm” was probably not only survivable but a deliberate evolved defensive strategy. The final dissolution of the cell looks to have come from not being able to get away from the light and having the products of the photoreaction of the blepharismins [overwhelming the protist’s ability to protect itself from them](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19393747). (The blepharismins, btw, [may potentially be useful in treating cancers](https://eurekamag.com/research/010/249/010249730.php).) (See also midway down [this](http://photobiology.info/LenciCiliates.html) and section 4.2 of [this](https://www.intechopen.com/online-first/predator-prey-interactions-in-ciliated-protists).) ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2019, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-death-of-a-single-cell-organism/829890/14 "2019-02-21T21:30:00Z")
If I am taking antibiotics (yet again!) for a bladder infection, the sum total of the microorganisms being slaughtered cannot scream loud enough to drown out my own cries and wails that I generate while sitting on the toilet trying to pee razor blades. If those one-celled organisms want to survive, they can stay out of my urinary tract! ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2019, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-death-of-a-single-cell-organism/829890/15 "2019-02-21T21:44:01Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Okay, [these guys](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blepharisma) contain a class of molecules called [blepharismins](http://photobiology.info/LenciCiliates.html) which are very photosensitive, and trigger the protist to move away from bright lights. The blepharismins [have a second trait](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/24750263.2017.1353145) of being destructive to cell membranes. The blepharismins are stored in [cortical granules](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortical_granule) that can be deliberately ejected from the cell. The idea is probably to eject some of those when another cell is trying to eat you, hoping that it will eat those and die. So that first “spewing of cytoplasm” was probably not only survivable but a deliberate evolved defensive strategy. The final dissolution of the cell looks to have come from not being able to get away from the light and having the products of the photoreaction of the blepharismins [overwhelming the protist’s ability to protect itself from them](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19393747). (The blepharismins, btw, [may potentially be useful in treating cancers](https://eurekamag.com/research/010/249/010249730.php).) (See also midway down [this](http://photobiology.info/LenciCiliates.html) and section 4.2 of [this](https://www.intechopen.com/online-first/predator-prey-interactions-in-ciliated-protists).) Well found. Googling “extrusive organelles chemical defense” gives many more articles. You are obviously correct that we are watching an evolved defensive mechanism at the beginning, that makes much more sense now. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2019, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-death-of-a-single-cell-organism/829890/16 "2019-02-22T21:40:21Z")
Damn, Darren G. That was very informative - thank you!