Premium
NOTE—THE STA‐1 MUTATION PREVENTS ASSEMBLY OF STARCH GRANULES IN NITROGEN‐STARVED CELLS AND SERVES AS A USEFUL MORPHOLOGICAL MARKER DURING SEXUAL REPRODUCTION IN CHLAMYDOMONAS MONOICA (CHLOROPHYCEAE)
Author(s) -
Rickoll Wayne,
Rehkopf David,
Dunn Catherine,
Malmberg Amy,
VanWinkleSwift Karen
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of phycology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.85
H-Index - 127
eISSN - 1529-8817
pISSN - 0022-3646
DOI - 10.1046/j.1529-8817.1998.340147.x
Subject(s) - biology , chlamydomonas , mutant , starch , biochemistry , sexual reproduction , chlorophyceae , granule (geology) , biosynthesis , chloroplast , mutagenesis , microbiology and biotechnology , botany , gene , algae , chlorophyta , paleontology
Iodine staining of clones of nitrogen‐starved Chlamydomonas cells was used to screen for mutants with altered levels or altered composition of storage starch. Mutations leading to defects in quantity or morphology of starch granules not only can provide information on storage starch biosynthesis and granule assembly but can also be used as morphological markers in genetic and cell biological studies. A mutant of Chlamydomonas monoica Strehlow devoid of starch granules was obtained following ultraviolet mutagenesis. Nitrogen‐starved cells of the sta‐1 strain lacked pyrenoidal starch granules and granules normally associated with thylakoid membranes. The mutant phenotype was the consequence of a single Mendelian mutation that appeared to affect granule assembly rather than starch biosynthesis per se and that had no effect on vegetative growth, sexual reproduction, or zygospore viability.