As discussed in investigating life 15.1, why might bioluminescence be an advantage for some species of dinoflagellates?

Bioluminescence is the phenomenon which is seen in the dinoflagellates which is very common. It is caused due to chemical reactions that takes place inside the organism.

There is an influx of protons in the cell which drops the pH of the cell. It is the oxidation of luciferin which produces the glow.

This phenomenon acts as a shock for the predator because it is in the form of flash for less than 20 microseconds.This flash reduces the number of dinoflagellates which is being eaten by the predator.

volcanoes (an event in the geosphere) release a large amount of particulate matter into the atmosphere. these particles serve as nuclei for the formation of water droplets (hydrosphere). rainfall (hydrosphere) often increases following an eruption, stimulating plant growth (biosphere).

step 1: initiation

initiation is the beginning of transcription. it occurs when the enzyme rna polymerase binds to a region of a gene called the promoter. this signals the dna to unwind so the enzyme can ‘‘read’’ the bases in one of the dna strands. the enzyme is now ready to make a strand of mrna with a complementary sequence of bases.

step 2: elongation

elongation is the addition of nucleotides to the mrna strand. rna polymerase reads the unwound dna strand and builds the mrna molecule, using complementary base pairs. there is a brief time during this process when the newly formed rna is bound to the unwound dna. during this process, an adenine (a) in the dna binds to an uracil (u) in the rna.

step 3: termination

termination is the ending of transcription, and occurs when rna polymerase crosses a stop (termination) sequence in the gene. the mrna strand is complete, and it detaches from dna.