Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is a single-cell green alga about 10 micrometres in diameter that swims with two flagella. It has a cell wall made of hydroxyproline-rich glycoproteins, a large cup-shaped chloroplast, a large pyrenoid, and an eyespot that senses light. Chlamydomonas species are widely distributed worldwide in soil and fresh water. Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is an especially well studied biological model organism, partly due to its ease of culturing and the ability to manipulate its genetics. When illuminated, C. reinhardtii can grow photoautotrophically, but it can also grow in the dark if supplied with organic carbon. Commercially, C. reinhardtii is of interest for producing biopharmaceuticals and biofuel, as well being a valuable research tool in making hydrogen. The C. reinhardtii wild-type laboratory strain c137 (mt+) originates from an isolate collected near Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1945 by Gilbert M. Smith. The species' name has been spelled several different ways because of different transliterations of the name from Russian: reinhardi, reinhardii, and reinhardtii all refer to the same species, C. reinhardtii Dangeard. Chlamydomonas is used as a model organism for research on fundamental questions in cell and molecular biology such as: How do cells move? How do cells respond to light? How do cells recognize one another? How do cells generate regular, repeatable flagellar waveforms? How do cells regulate their proteome to control flagellar length? How do cells respond to changes in mineral nutrition? (nitrogen, sulfur, etc.) There are many known mutants of C. reinhardtii. These mutants are useful tools for studying a variety of biological processes, including flagellar motility, photosynthesis, and protein synthesis. Since Chlamydomonas species are normally haploid, the effects of mutations are seen immediately without further crosses. In 2007, the complete nuclear genome sequence of C. reinhardtii was published. Channelrhodopsin-1 and Channelrhodopsin-2, proteins that function as light-gated cation channels, were originally isolated from C.

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Phototaxis

Phototaxis is a kind of taxis, or locomotory movement, that occurs when a whole organism moves towards or away from a stimulus of light. This is advantageous for phototrophic organisms as they can orient themselves most efficiently to receive light for photosynthesis. Phototaxis is called positive if the movement is in the direction of increasing light intensity and negative if the direction is opposite. Two types of positive phototaxis are observed in prokaryotes.

Chlamydomonas

Chlamydomonas (ˌklæmɪˈdɒmənəs,_-dəˈmoʊ- ) is a genus of green algae consisting of about 150 species 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, biogenesis, and genetics. One of the many striking features of Chlamydomonas is that it contains ion channels (channelrhodopsins) that are directly activated by light.

Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

Species-species interactions modulate copper toxicity under different visible light conditions

Valérie Gagnaux

Combination of biotic and abiotic factors influences the effects of naturally occurring or anthropogenic chemicals on photosynthetic microorganisms in the aquatic environment. Nonetheless, the combine

ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE2019

Structure of a PSI-LHCI-cyt b(6)f supercomplex in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii promoting cyclic electron flow under anaerobic conditions

Henning Paul-Julius Stahlberg

Photosynthetic linear electron flow (LEF) produces ATP and NADPH, while cyclic electron flow (CEF) exclusively drives photophosphorylation to supply extra ATP. The fine-tuning of linear and cyclic ele

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences2018

Interactions of silver and polystyrene nanoparticles with algae

Xiaomei Li

Nanoparticles have various physicochemical properties attributed by their small dimensions. The global production of nanoparticles lead to a raised concern for their environmental impacts. Algae are o

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