Recent Advances in Research on the Marine Alga Acetabularia

BRIEF INCUBATION OF GAMETANGIA‐BEARING CAPS IN ANTIBIOTICS ELIMINATES BRANCHING IN PROGENY OF ACETABULARIA ACETABULUM (CHLOROPHYTA)1

“…In summary, we found that cell branching in A. acetabulum is not necessarily an inherited trait and that it is not correlated with three abnormal microscopic features found in the same cell cultures but that it can be eliminated in the progeny of affected cells by brief exposure of gametangia-bearing caps to a combination of antibiotics. Branched cells have been used for studies of nucleocytoplasmic interactions in Acetabularia species (Bonotto and Bonnijns-van Gelder 1969, Bonotto et al 1976Bonotto et al , 1979. The fact that the several caps of a single cell are filled with haploid nuclei and make gametangia at different times may mean that a round of mitosis has occurred before meiosis in these cells and therefore provides a means of vegetatively propagating these cells.…”

“…Cells with as many as nine caps have been seen (Bonotto et al 1971). Cells with multiple stalks resembled little shrubs or tufts of grass, and the fecundity of each cap apparently was not grossly altered (Bonotto et al 1976, Bonotto 1988.…”

Culture of Acetabularia calyculus from the South China Sea

“…This species has been found in nature in the Red Sea (Narr, 1939), in the Mediterranean (Cineili, 1979), in the main island of Japan (Arasaki & Shihira-Ishikawa, 1979) and in the South China Sea . At present some Acetabularia species serve as an important cellular model for research in the field of cell biology and molecular biology (Puiseux-Dao, 1970 ;Bonotto, et al 1976) . At present some Acetabularia species serve as an important cellular model for research in the field of cell biology and molecular biology (Puiseux-Dao, 1970 ;Bonotto, et al 1976) .…”