Prasinophyte

paraphyletic group |auto=yes | subheader=Paraphyletic group of chlorophytes | image = Pyramimonas sp color.jpg | image_caption = Pyramimonas sp. | image_upright = 1.1 | taxon = Prasinophyte | includes_text = Included classes | includes_ref = | includes = Palmophyllophyceae (=Prasinophyceae s.s.) Prasinodermophyta Pyramimonadophyceae Mamiellophyceae Nephroselmidophyceae (=Nephrophyceae) Chloropicophyceae Pseudoscourfieldiales? Picocystophyceae Chlorodendrophyceae | excludes_text = Excluded classes (i.e. chlorophytes not considered prasinophytes) | excludes = Pedinophyceae Ulvophyceae Trebouxiophyceae Chlorophyceae The prasinophytes' are a group of unicellular green algae. Prasinophytes mainly include marine planktonic species, as well as some freshwater representatives. The prasinophytes are morphologically diverse, including flagellates with one to eight flagella and non-motile (coccoid) unicells. The cells of many species are covered with organic body scales; others are naked. Well studied genera include Ostreococcus, considered to be the smallest (ca. 0.95 μm) free-living eukaryote, and Micromonas, both of which are found in marine waters worldwide. Prasinophytes have simple cellular structures, containing a single chloroplast and a single mitochondrion. The genomes are relatively small compared to other eukaryotes (about 12 Mbp for Ostreococcus and 21 Mbp for Micromonas). At least one species, the Antarctic form Pyramimonas gelidicola, is capable of phagocytosis and is therefore a mixotrophic algae. Some authors treat the prasinophytes as a polyphyletic grouping of green algae from different clades. As the Tetraphytina emerged in the Prasinophytes, recently authors include it, rendering it monophyletic, and equivalent to chlorophyta. A study of photosynthetic gene-sequence diversity (rbcL) in the Gulf of Mexico indicated that Prasinophytes are particularly prevalent at the Subsurface Chlorophyll Maximum (SCM) and several different ecotypes of Ostreococcus have been detected in the environment.