SUNY Empire State College Are Nanobacteria Alive Cell Biology Case Study

Read through the case study and consider the following questions:

1. The fundamental issue under consideration is whether nanobacteria are alive. How would you decide this question? To answer this you need to think about the properties common to all living things and how you would test whether the nanobacteria possessed these properties. What are the properties of a biological organism?
2. Consider the results from each of the three experiments described in Part III. What does each experiment tell you? How does the experiment support the hypothesis that nanobacteria are living?
3. Consider the data from the work by Cisar et al. Which terms or techniques are new or unclear to you? How does this data compare to that of Kajander and Ciftcioglu? (To help you answer this question, refer back to Parts II and III of this case study.)
4. Which of the new results are supportive of Kajander and Ciftcioglu? Which of the new results contradict Kajander and Ciftcioglu? Which result is most damaging to the hypothesis that nanobacteria are living organisms. Explain why you think this.
5. Look over the final set of experimental data provided by Cisar et al. and displayed on the Work Sheet for Part V. What conclusions can you make? Decide if these experiments explain the observations of
   • the formation of the biofilm
   • the ability of gamma radiation to prevent the formation of the biofilm, and
   • the transferability of biofilm formation.
6. Discuss which set of evidence (Kajander and Ciftcioglu or Cisar et al.) you find most convincing. Decide whether you believe nanobacteria are alive or not!