Chlamydomonas

Chlamydomonas
SEM image of flagellated Chlamydomonas (10000×)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Protista
Division: Chlorophyta
Class: Chlorophyceae
Order: Volvocales
Family: Chlamydomonadaceae
Genus: Chlamydomonas
Ehrenb.
Species

See text

Chlamydomonas is a genus of green algae. They are unicellular flagellates. Chlamydomonas is used as a model organism for molecular biology, especially studies of flagellar motility and chloroplast dynamics, biogenesis, and genetics. One of the many striking features of Chlamydomonas is that it contains ion channels that are directly activated by light, such as channelrhodopsin. Some regulatory systems of Chlamydomonas are more complex than their homologs in Gymnosperms, with evolutionary related regulatory proteins being larger and containing additional domains [1].

Contents

Species

Nutrition

Most species are obligate phototrophs but C. reinhardtii and C. dysosmos are facultative heterotrophs that can grow in the dark in the presence of acetate as a carbon source.

Morphology

References

  1. ^ A Falciatore, L Merendino, F Barneche, M Ceol, R Meskauskiene, K Apel, JD Rochaix (2005). The FLP proteins act as regulators of chlorophyll synthesis in response to light and plastid signals in Chlamydomonas. Genes & Dev, 19:176-187 [1]
  2. ^ Hazen, Tracy E. 1922. The phylogeny of the genus Brachiomonas. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club. 49(4):75-92, with two plates.
  3. ^ Aoyama, H., Kuroiwa, T and Nakamura,S. 2009. The dynamic behaviour of mitochrandia in living zygotes during maturation and meiosis in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Eur. J. Phycol. 44: 497 - 507

External links