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Culture Club

These flasks contain different types of Synechococcus, single-cell photosynthetic bacteria that are one of the most abundant and critical organisms in the ocean. They are, however, notoriously difficult to culture in the laboratory. In 1979, WHOI scientists John Waterbury and Frederica Valois, along with the late Stanley Watson, first discovered Synechococcus and have mastered the subtle tricks of culturing the bacteria. Today, they maintain a library of Synechococcus at WHOI that graduate student Rachel Hunter-Cevera used to investigate factors and conditions controlling when and where each type grows.(Photo by Dehann Fourie, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)