COMPARATIVE ULTRASTRUCTURE OF THREE SPECIES OF CHLOROSARCINA (CHLOROSARCINACEAE, CHLOROPHYTA)^1,2

Abstract

Ultrastructural studies revealed that Chlorosarcina stigmatica Deason differs from C. brevispinosa and C. longispinosa Chantanachat and Bold because the vegetative cells possess a pyrenoid, and the zoospores have chlorophycean characteristics. Zoospores of the latter species exhibit pleurastrophycean characteristics including counterclockwise absolute orientation of the flagellar apparatus components. Nuclear division in C. longispinosa, like that of Friedmannia israelensis Chantanachat and Bold, is metacentric. It is suggested that a new genus, Desmotetra, be erected for Chlorosarcina stigmatica, and that it, along with Chlorosarcinopsis Herndon, be placed in the Chlorococcales, Chlorophyceae. Chlorosarcina brevispinosa and C. longispinosa belong in the Pleurastrales, Pleurastrophyceae.

Pleurastrosarcina terriformae, a new species of a rare desert trebouxiophycean alga discovered by an integrative approach

“…1, the investigated strains formed a highly supported lineage within the Trebouxiophyceae. Our study confirmed the separation of C. brevispinosa and C. longispinosa from other species of Chlorosarcina based on ultrastructural features (Deason and Floyd 1987), which Sluiman and Blommers (1990) have used for the establishment of Pleurastrosarcina . However, Sluiman and Blommers (1990) assigned this genus to the Ulvophyceae, because the Trebouxiophyceae was later described by Friedl (1995).…”

“…How difficult the identification of taxa with this morphology is, can be demonstrated on the example of Chlorosarcina stigmatica . This species was described by Deason (1959) and the ultrastructure of the type strain (UTEX 962) was investigated by Deason and Floyd (1987). Two other strains were isolated by Schwarz (1975) and Trenkwalder (1975), ASIB S163 and ASIB T105, respectively.…”

“…Sluiman and Blommers (1990) and Gärtner et al (1988) demonstrated that the ultrastructure of the cell packages of both ASIB strains showed similarities to UTEX 962; however, no pyrenoid could be observed in both strains in contrast to the findings by type strain of Chlorosarcina stigmatica. Considering the presence of a naked pyrenoid, Deason and Floyd (1987) transferred UTEX 962 to the newly erected genus Desmotetra . Watanabe et al (2006) demonstrated that UTEX 962 and ASIB T105 belong to Chlorophyceae, but to two different clades and proposed the generic name Sarcinochlamys for strain ASIB T105.…”

“…About the genus Chlorosarcina , very little is known, because only three species are available in public culture collections and only one species has been investigated in detail. Chlorosarcina stigmatica originally described by Deason (1959) was later transferred to Desmotetra based on ultrastructural investigations of the flagellar apparatus (Deason and Floyd 1987). The other two species of Chlorosarcina , C. brevispinosa and C. longispinosa , were not studied using an integrative approach.…”

“…Deason and Floyd (1987) investigated the zoospore ultrastructure of C. longispinosa and found that the zoospores exhibit typical counterclockwise orientation of the flagellar apparatus and metacentric nuclear division similar to the strain UTEX 1181 Friedmannia israeliensis . The other species of Chlorosarcina ( C. stigmatica ) according to its ultrastructure is a member of the Chlorophyceae (Deason and Floyd 1987; Sluiman and Blommers 1990). Therefore, Sluiman and Blommers (1990) established a new genus Pleurastrosarcina with its type species P. brevispinosa .…”