image: Photomicrograph showing an adult, asexual Volvox carteri consisting of ~2,000 small cells (each with two flagella) at its surface and ~16 juveniles in the interior. Each juvenile contains ~2,000 tiny somatic cells at the surface, and ~16 large reproductive cells inside. Up to 99 percent of the volume of an adult Volvox spheroid is Extracellular Matrix. This image relates to an article that appeared in the July 9, 2010, issue of Science, published by AAAS. The study, by Dr. S.E. Prochnik of the DOE Joint Genome Institute in Walnut Creek, Calif., and colleagues, is titled, "Genomic Analysis of Organismal Complexity in the Multicellular Green Alga Volvox carteri." view more
Credit: Image courtesy of Armin Hallmann