[DIYbio] Re: Questions about Noctiluca scintillans-bio illuminant Dinoflagellate

HI to all,
I hope not to divert the topic too much from previous question, which I unfortunatelly don't have an answer to however I wonder Patric (and others) would you know any type of bio-luminescent microbe which would be food safe, preferably non GMO? We are preparing with our project Food Hacking Base (fhb) for 31c3 in Hamburg and I would like to make some food, either some agar based gels with some bio-luminescent microbe gorwing on the top of it, or I would like to make a liquid culture as a beverage - in this case probably making one brew with the bio-luminescent microbe and mixing it later on with probiotic polyculture like kombucha, milk kefir or water kefir based ferments. The purpose of this project is to attract attention to food biotech, no practical application at the moment except if your light bulb go off in a dark cellar ...

Many thanks for any ideas, I'm not starting to investigate on the topic, this may take longer to develop which is OK.

Sincerely from Jeju,

FAA

On Monday, November 10, 2014 3:34:57 PM UTC+9, Patrik D'haeseleer wrote:

Hi there!

The first thing to do would be to learn how to grow this dinoflagellate. Unlike the usual Pyrocystis species most people are playing with, Noctiluca does not photosynthesize. Instead, it eats other algae (see http://plankt.oxfordjournals.org/content/17/1/29.short).

There's tons of people interested in doing creative things with bioluminescent dinoflagellates, but the Pyrocystis species are somewhat limiting, because they are obligate photosynthesizers, have a long generation time, only reach very dilute concentrations, and are very heat sensitive. There are also not that many species that are known to be non-toxic and bioluminescent. So if you could domesticate another nontoxic bioluminescent dinoflagellate, I think there would be plenty of people that would appreciate that! 

Growing the organism in the lab would also be the first step in finding out some way to make something useful out of them - or figuring out how to kill them!

Patrik

On Sunday, November 9, 2014 12:18:43 PM UTC-8, 陳彥吟 wrote:

Hi,

I come from Taiwan. Currently, I'm doing a research which is concern about the Dinoflagellate -Noctiluca scintillans. This microbe had been booming in my City Matsu, Taiwan every year. Some biologist told me although the species been found in my hometown is without toxin, it still brings a great impact for the ecology. It makes a low- oxygen zone, and kill the mammals when it boost.

This is the final year I'm studying in London. As a designer, I wish I can devote in solved this problem or turn the harm to a beauty thing.  Such a transfer the Noctiluca scintillans to something useful for local. Some biologist told me it can be pills for losing weights, or skin care products etc.

But I haven't found any information for proofing what is can be.

Is anyone here know about it?

or know about the who are the expert of this microbe? 

 

Thanks

 Best wish