The Big Bang Theory: Autotrophs versus Heterotrophs

    In the haploid bread-mold Neurospora, wild-type autotrophs ("self feeders") are able to grow on minimal medium containing only basic CHNOPS salts (carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur). In contrast, mutant heterotrophs are able to grow only when minimal media is supplemented with one or more nutrients: something has affected their ability to synthesize these substances. "Growth" and "No Growth" on minimal medium are alternative phenotypes of the heterotrophs.

HOMEWORK: The theme song for "The Big Bang Theory" includes the lines:

The whole Universe was in a hot dense state
And nearly 14 billion years ago expansion started - Wait:
The Earth began to cool
The autotrophs began to drool ....

Explain the joke.


All text material © 2014 by Steven M. Carr