A novel virus, named Acanthocystis turfacea Chlorella virus (ATCV), that infects endosymbiotic Chlorella algae of the heliozoon Acanthocystis turfacea was isolated from freshwater samples. Electron microscopic analysis of ATCV revealed that the viral capsid has a distinct icosahedral shape with a diameter of 140-190 nm. Filamentous structures extending from some of the virus vertices, which may...

Brassinosteroids play a significant role in the amelioration of various abiotic and biotic stresses. In order to elaborate their roles in plants subjected to heavy metals stress, Chlorella vulgaris cultures treated with 10(-8) M brassinolide (BL) were exposed to 10(-6)-10(-4) M heavy metals (cadmium, lead and copper) application. Under heavy metals stress, the growth and chemical composition (c...

Glucose cultures of Chlorella vulgaris were grown in white light, in monochromatic light, and in darkness. Difference spectra showed that all wavelengths resulted in increased pigmentation over the dark controls.Cells irradiated with the 600 mmu beam showed a much higher absorption in the blue end of the spectrum with respect to the red end than is normally found in absorption spectra of white-...

A key step in the evolution of multicellular organisms is the formation of cooperative multicellular groups. It has been suggested that predation pressure may promote multicellular group formation in some algae and bacteria, with cells forming groups to lower their chance of being eaten. We use the green alga Chlorella vulgaris and the protist Tetrahymena thermophila to test whether predation p...

Growth and physiological experiments were carried out using Scenedesmus subspicatus and Chlorella vulgaris as representative species typically found in waste stabilisation ponds. These experiments were designed to test the ability of the organisms to survive and grow under a range of different temperatures and light intensities that might occur in mid to high latitude regions. Growth was assess...

Instead of zoochlorella endosymbionts, magnetic micro-beads (Dynabeads) was microinjected into P. bursaria white strain which can resultantly response to magnetism. The system may provide an interesting artificial endosymbiosis system.

Genetic transformation is useful for basic research and applied biotechnology. However, genetic transformation of microalgae is usually quite difficult due to the technical limitations of existing methods. We cloned the promoter and terminator of the nitrate reductase gene from the microalga Phaeodactylum tricornutum and used them for optimization of a transformation system of the microal...

Trebouxia aggregata (Archibald) Gärtner (phylum Chlorophyta, family Trebouxiaceae), a lichen symbiotic alga, has been identified as host of the well-known herbaceous plant virus Cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV, family Caulimoviridae). The alga had been isolated from Xanthoria parietina more than 70 years ago and has been maintained in a collection since that time. The CaMV detected in this colle...