Chlamydomonas mating

One of my primary study organisms is the model algae, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.  I am currently working with a postdoc from the Juenger lab on a project creating a large QTL mapping population starting from two wild-type parental lines that differ (by ~5-fold) in size. The goal (in my mind) is to reach the F12 generation so that the genome is well-recombined and should permit high resolution mapping of loci related to interesting traits (e.g., fitness under different nutrient conditions; or susceptibility to predators such as my other study organism, Daphnia; both traits are regulated by cell size).  At any rate, today was the first day of actual crosses...it looks like it may have gone well, given the jump in cell motility after suspension and obvious mating after mixing the lines.  But we shall see!