Scientific Name Chlamydomonas reinhardtii
Common Name Chlamydomonas smithii;
Taxonomy ID 3055
Lineage cellular organisms > Viridiplantae > Chlorophyta > Chlorophyceae > Chlamydomonadales > Chlamydomonadaceae > Chlamydomonas
External Links NCBI; EBI; JGI;
Representative Assembly v3.0 GCF_000002595.1 DNA GFF RNA Protein
Description:

Chlamydomonas is a genus of unicellular green algae found widely in fresh water, on damp soil, and a few occur in the sea. The cells are spherical or ellipsoidal. They have two equal flagella, present at the anterior end of the cell. The cell is surrounded by a fibrous glycoprotein cell wall. Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is the most commonly used laboratory species of Chlamydomonas since it can grow quickly with a generation time of 5 hrs and can form colonies on plates. 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. In wild they survive in many different environments throughout the world. It is motile and cells of this species are haploid and can become diploid when deprived of nitrogen. Though photosynthetic, they can survive in total darkness in the presence of acetate. It has therefore been used as a model system to study photosynthesis and chloroplast biogenesis, mitochondrial biogenesis, flagellar assembly and motility, phototaxis, circadian rhythms, gametogenesis and mating, and cellular metabolism 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. C. reinhardtii has a genome size of about 120 Mb. It is haploid and has 17 chromosomes. It is an excellent system to study mutations as it has only a single copy of each gene.