Domain Eukaryota Family Euglenaceae Rank Species | Order Euglenales | |
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Similar Euglena, Euglenoids, Euglena viridis, Euglenozoa, Euglenophyceae | ||
Euglena gracilis
Euglena gracilis is a species of single-celled Eukaryote algae in the genus Euglena. They have a secondary chloroplast and can feed by photosynthesis, heterotrophy or phagocytosis. They have a highly flexible cell surface, allowing them to change shape from thin cells up to 100 µm long to spheres of approximately 20 µm. They have two flagella, only one of which emerges from the flagellar pocket (reservoir) in the anterior of the cell, and can move by swimming, or by so-called "euglenoid" movement across surfaces. Euglena gracilis has been used extensively in the laboratory as a model organism, particularly for studying cell biology and biochemistry.
Contents
Living euglena gracilis swimming under microscope
Taxonomy
A morphological and molecular study of the Euglenozoa put Euglena gracilis in close kinship with the species Khawkinea quartana, with Peranema trichophorum basal to both., although a later molecular analysis showed that E. gracilis was, in fact, more closely related to Astasia longa than to certain other species recognized as Euglena. The transcriptome of Euglena gracilis was recently sequenced, providing information about all of the genes that the organism is actively using. They found that Euglena gracilis has a whole host of new, unclassified genes which can make complex carbohydrates and natural products.
