Chlamydomonas (Research Paper Sample)

Biology 202
Name
Institution Affiliation
Taxonomic position
Chlamydomonas is the genus name given to the microscopic and unicellular algae found in the damp soils, stagnant water and fresh waters such as lakes and rivers (Harris, 2009). They belong to the kingdom of Viridiplantae and family Chlamydomonadaceae. Typically, they have a spherical and single-cell body which is about 0.02mm across. The cytoplasm containing the nucleus is usually surrounded by a cell wall. Usually, the Chlamydomonas is used by scientists as a model organism for various studies in molecular biology such as genetics, chloroplast dynamics and biogenesis (Harris, 2009).
Morphology
Morphology is a biology discipline that studies organisms’ structural features, features and form. Chlamydomonas consists of motile unicellular flagellates or algae having an oval shape. The cell wall of the organism comprises of non-cellulosic polysaccharides and glycoprotein rather than cellulose (Witman, 2009). The organism also has a contractile vacuole which is situated the base of the flagella. In addition, the organism bears a chloroplast that contains bands having photosynthetic thylakoids. The chloroplast also encloses the nucleus (Witman, 2009).
Reproductive biology
Reproduction of the chlamydomonas is by sexual and asexual means. The asexual reproduction of the organism may occur both under favorable and unfavorable conditions. Under favorable conditions, the organism withdraws the flagella and while at rest, the protoplasm pulls out from the cell wall resulting to the disappearing of the contractile vacuole. A cell wall is then formed on the resulting daughter protoplasts and what follows is the development of two flagella. Each daughter protoplast then becomes a parent by itself (Witman, 2009).
Under unfavorable conditions, the daughter protoplasts do not form flagella and are therefore called endospore. When the favorable season begins, the endospores develop to become zoospores. The sexual reproduction of chlamydomonas occurs via three stages that is, gametogenesis, syngamy and zygospore formation (Witman, 2009).
Diversity and Importance
The most common ...