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Cell density affects cell motility in P. carterae cultures.

The swimming, calcifying alga P. carterae provides an excellent model to study the relationship of biomineralization and morphology to motility and gravitaxis. In preparation for a spaceflight experiment, cell motility was analyzed in cultures grown under various conditions. Cells in young growing cultures with low cell concentration swam randomly. As cell density increased, bioconvection was established, with distinct areas of cells swimming up, narrow streams of cells moving down, and random cell movement in less concentrated pockets of the culture. Aging of the culture may increase cell adhesiveness and sedimentation that depletes the number of swimmers in the population. Motility was maintained for two months in some of the conditions tested, indicating that an equilibrium that allows swimming behavior studies can be established in a closed system. Cell concentration seems to be responsible for the oriented movement in P. carterae, due to its effect on the establishment of bioconvection.