Harman Patil (Editor)

Chlamydomonas

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Domain
  
Eukaryota

Division
  
Higher classification
  
Chlamydomonadaceae

Kingdom
  
Plantae

Order
  
Chlamydomonadales

Scientific name
  
Chlamydomonas

Rank
  
Genus

Diagram showing the labeled parts of Chlamydomonas.

Lower classifications
  
Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, Watermelon snow

Similar
  
Neochlorosarcina, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, Watermelon snow

Chlamydomonas dic microscope


Chlamydomonas is a genus of green algae consisting of unicellular flagellates, found in stagnant water and on damp soil, in freshwater, seawater, and even in snow as "snow algae" Chlamydomonas is used as a model organism for molecular biology, especially studies of flagellar motility and chloroplast dynamics, biogeneses, and genetics. One of the many striking features of Chlamydomonas is that it contains ion channels, (channelrhodopsins), that are directly activated by light. Some regulatory systems of Chlamydomonas are more complex than their homologs in Gymnosperms, with evolutionarily related regulatory proteins being larger and containing additional domains.

Contents

Diagram showing the parts of Chlamydomonas.

Molecular phylogeny studies indicated that the traditional genus Chlamydomonas defined using morphological data was polyphyletic within Volvocales, and many species were reclassified (e.g., in Oogamochlamys, Lobochlamys), and many other "Chlamydomonas" lineages are to be reclassificated.

Different parts of Chlamydomonas.

Chlamydomonas euglena viridis


Species

  • Chlamydomonas caudata Wille
  • Chlamydomonas elegans G.S.West 1915
  • Chlamydomonas moewusii
  • Chlamydomonas nivalis
  • Chlamydomonas ovoidae
  • Chlamydomonas reinhardtii
  • Ecology

    A 10 micrometers size of Chlamydomonas.

    It is generally found in habitat rich in ammonium salt. Chlamydomonas possesses red eye spots for photosensitivity and reproduces by both asexual and sexual means.

    Chlamydomonas's asexual reproduction goes through zoospores, Palmella stage, Aplanospores and Hypnospores; sexual reproduction through isogamy, anisogamy or oogamy.

    Nutrition

    Chlamydomonas, a genus of green algae.

    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

  • Motile unicellular algae.
  • Generally oval in shape.
  • Cell wall is made up of glycoprotein and non cellulosic polysaccharides instead of cellulose.
  • Two anteriorly inserted whiplash flagella. Flagella originates from a basal granule located in the anterior papillate or non-papillate region of the cytoplasm. Flagellum shows typical 9+2 arrangement of the component fibrils.
  • Contractile vacuoles found at near the bases of flagella.
  • Prominent cup or bowl shaped chloroplast is present. The chloroplast contains bands composed of a variable number of the photosynthetic thylakoids which are not organised into grana-like structures.
  • The nucleus is enclosed in a cup-shaped chloroplast, which has a single large pyrenoid where starch is formed from photosynthetic products. Pyrenoid with starch sheath is present in the posterior end of the chloroplast.
  • Eye spot present in the anterior portion of the chloroplast. It consists of two or three, more or less parallel rows of linearly arranged fat droplets.
  • References

    Chlamydomonas Wikipedia