Forum post on the "Apocalypse Microbe"

Accidentally inserted R. grendel into a plant specimen and it induced motility and aggresion

u/salt_n_vinagar | 156,072-26 15:58 (edited)
I'm (53M) a clinician for my colony ship's medbay, and I just recently had a little bio lab put in. Was messing around trying to activate a sample of R. grendel one of my colleagues (29F) sent me, when I accidentally tipped over a bilevine I had growing nearby and some of the stalks got in the petri dish.

Of course I was pissed, thinking I'd have to culture a new colony, when the vine's tendrils started twitching weirdly...then lunged at my neck! Luckily I don't have a *real* neck, so I was able to wrestle the thing into biohazard containment. And also I'm still alive.

Any botanists ever seen this kind of interaction between a microbe and a plant? Or has anyone ever managed to cause the microbe to actually do anything?

• u/0riginal_pyl0n_c0nstruct0r | 156,072-25 22:04
  why is this in aita

• u/Sgt_Bootlicker90 | 156,072-25 22:21
  Not a botanist or someone who's ever seen the microbe, and not interested in your story or questions, but did you say you're on a colony ship? I didn't think we had any going out anymore, what's your sector?

  • u/salt_n_vinagar (OP) | 156,072-25 22:34
    you're mom :)
  • u/Sgt_Bootlicker90 | 156,072-25 22:48
    Got it, so OP is not actually a colonist but really just one of those Eigenvector traitors.
  • u/salt_n_vinagar (OP) | 156,072-25 23:13
    no i'd never betray ur mom ;)
  • u/Sgt_Bootlicker90 | 156,072-28 00:40 (edited)
    Lol you're literally so mad rn. But don't worry, the civilized galaxy will treat your lot with compassion when we incorporate you all into the Network. :))))
• u/iheartSailorEel4reel | 156,072-25 23:31
  That's super interesting :O Pics???
  I used to work in a phytomechanics fabricator, and if I'm not wrong bilevines are close relatives of Ondo Jen shimmerers. Makes sense that they would have some vestigial structures that might allow for motility.
  • u/salt_n_vinagar (OP) | 156,072-26 17:00
    Sorry, no pics. I threw that mf into the jettison capsule
    Also: Ondo what whatwhats?
  • u/iheartSailorEel4reel | 156,072-27 23:02
    LOL Ondo Jen shimmerers are those plantoid monsters from...well, from Ondo Jen. They wait for you to get too close to their vines, then they constrict ya and absorb ya for nutrients!!
  • u/salt_n_vinagar (OP) | 156,072-27 18:23
    OH, gotcha. Worst thing I've ever heard, thx <3
• u/LORDofDREAMS+ABOVEandBELOW | 156,072-26 17:00
  Small microorganisms have been known to infiltrate plant cells and subsist on intracellular metabolites indefinitely. It could be that the archaeon has nested itself inside the cells of your bilevine and is somehow stimulating it to move.
  http://elsevier.com/article/dHDf0188
  • u/salt_n_vinagar (OP) | 156,072-26 19:10
    Article is paywalled, but truly it's the thought that counts
• u/Nemecyst | 156,072-28 09:17
  thank you so much for not refering to it as the "aPoCaLyPsE mIcRoBe,"
  it is just a dormant bug that doesn't do anything. just because it was discovered a couple years ago and is turning up everywhere doesn't mean it has to be some galactic threat. for all we know there are plenty of species sitting dormant dispersed throughout the stars...
  • u/LORDofDREAMS+ABOVEandBELOW | 156,072-29 22:00
    While perhaps an overly sensationalized moniker, "apocalypse microbe" does give the archaeon some memorability in the eyes of the general public. It even attaches some urgency to questions such as the organism's origins, life cycle, and ecological niche. After all, it is puzzling for a lifeform to be so universally prolific yet so apparently impotent, so staggeringly inanimate, so obstinately unresponsive.
  • u/salt_n_vinagar (OP) | 156,072-29 22:51
    You have such a way with words! Omg
  • u/LORDofDREAMS+ABOVEandBELOW | 156,072-29 23:00
    As it happens, your colony ship seems to be quite nearby to my current location.
  • u/Nemecyst | 156,072-29 23:44
    yo, PLEASE do not dox OP in my comment thread