Chlamydomonas reinhardtii
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Chlamydomonas reinhardtii
Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is a motile single celled green alga about 10 micrometres in diameter that swims with two flagella. The species 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.
These algae are commonly found in soil and fresh water. They have a cell wall made of hydroxyproline-rich glycoproteins, a large cup-shaped chloroplast, a large pyrenoid, and an "eyespot" that senses light. Normal Chlamydomonas can grow on a simple medium of inorganic salts in the light, using photosynthesis to provide energy. They can also grow in total darkness using acetate as a carbon source for catabolism.
The C. reinhardtii wild type laboratory strain c137 (mt+) originates from an isolate made near Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1945 by Gilbert M. Smith. 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 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 or 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-2, a protein that functions as a light-gated cation channel, was originally isolated from C. reinhardtii
| Kingdom | Protista |
|---|---|
| Phylum | Chlorophyta |
| Class | Chlorophyceae |
| Order | Volvocales |
| Family | Chlamydomonadaceae |
| Genus | Chlamydomonas |
| Species | C. reinhardtii |
| Binomial | Chlamydomonas reinhardtii |
