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Chlamydomonas reinhardtii: The Model of Choice to Study Mitochondria From Unicellular Photosynthetic Organisms

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Mitochondria

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology™ ((MIMB,volume 372))

Abstract

Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is a model organism to study photosynthesis, cellular division, flagellar biogenesis, and, more recently, mitochondrial function. It has distinct advantages in comparison to higher plants because it is unicellular, haploid, and amenable to tetrad analysis, and its three genomes are subject to specific transformation. It also has the possibility to grow either photoautotrophically or heterotrophically on acetate, making the assembly of the photosynthetic machinery not essential for cell viability. Methods developed allow the isolation of C. reinhardtii mitochondria free of thylakoid contaminants. We review the general procedures used for the biochemical characterization of mitochondria from this green alga.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Physiologische Chemie, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, München, Germany

    Soledad Funes

  2. School of Business and Engineering, Naturrum, University of Halmstad, Halmstad, Sweden

    Lars-Gunnar Franzén

  3. Departamento de Genética Molecular, Instituto de Fisiología Celular, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, D.F., México

    Diego González-Halphen

Authors
  1. Soledad Funes
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  2. Lars-Gunnar Franzén
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  3. Diego González-Halphen
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department für Biologie I, Botanik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, München, Germany

    Dario Leister

  2. Zellbiologie, Universität Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, Germany

    Johannes M. Herrmann

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© 2007 Humana Press Inc., Totowa, NJ

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Funes, S., Franzén, LG., González-Halphen, D. (2007). Chlamydomonas reinhardtii: The Model of Choice to Study Mitochondria From Unicellular Photosynthetic Organisms. In: Leister, D., Herrmann, J.M. (eds) Mitochondria. Methods in Molecular Biology™, vol 372. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-365-3_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-365-3_10

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-58829-667-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-59745-365-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Protocols

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