Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Recharacterization of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and its relatives with new isolates from Japan

  • Regular Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Plant Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Chlamydomonas reinhardtii P. A. Dang. (Volvocales, Chlorophyceae) is one of the most intensely studied algae, and its whole genome was sequenced. Although this species was originally described based on materials from France and is often referred to as a cosmopolitan species, all culture strains available today have been isolated from eastern North America. The distinctions with similar and/or closely related species, such as Chlamydomonas globosa J. Snow and Chlamydomonas orbicularis E. G. Pringsh., are also contentious. In this study, new strains of C. reinhardtii and C. globosa were isolated from Japan and compared with several strains similar to C. reinhardtii. Based on the morphological, genealogical, phylogenetical, and mating studies including the new Japanese strains, the circumscription of C. reinhardtii was clarified. C. reinhardtii was most closely related to C. globosa, and they were shown to be different species. Although C. reinhardtii was similar to C. orbicularis, the authentic strain of C. orbicularis was morphologically distinguishable and phylogenetically distant from C. reinhardtii. Discovery of the Japanese strains of C. reinhardtii supports the cosmopolitan distribution of this species. Based on Japanese strains and/or strains from other countries, emended descriptions of C. reinhardtii, C. globosa, and C. orbicularis are given.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Akiyama M, Hirose H, Yamagishi T, Hirano M (1977) Class Chlorophyceae. In: Hirose H, Yamagishi T (eds) Illustrations of the Japanese fresh-water algae. Uchida Rokakuho Publishing, Tokyo, pp 275–760 (in Japanese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Andersen RA, Berges JA, Harrison PJ, Watanabe MM (2005) Appendix A: Recipes for freshwater and seawater media. In: Andersen RA (ed) Algal culturing techniques. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 429–538

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Brabez R (1941) Zur Kenntnis der Algen des Franzensbader und Sooser Thermenbereiches. Beih Bot Centralbl 61/A:137–236

    Google Scholar 

  • Coleman AW (2000) The significance of a coincidence between evolutionary landmarks found in mating affinity and a DNA sequence. Protist 151:1–9

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Coleman AW, Mai JC (1997) Ribosomal DNA ITS-1 and ITS-2 sequence comparisons as a tool for predicting genetic relatedness. J Mol Evol 45:168–177

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Coleman AW, Suarez A, Goff LJ (1994) Molecular delineation of species and syngens in volvocacean green algae (Chlorophyta). J Phycol 30:80–90

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dangeard PA (1888) Recherches sur les algues inférieures. Ann Sci Nat Bot Ser VII 7:105–175

    Google Scholar 

  • Ebersold WT (1967) Chlamydomonas reinhardti: heterozygous diploid strains. Science 157:447–449

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ettl H (1965) Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Morphologie der Gattung Chlamydomonas Ehrenberg. Arch Protistenkd 108:271–430

    Google Scholar 

  • Ettl H (1976) Die Gattung Chlamydomonas Ehrenberg. Beih Nova Hedwigia 49:1–1122

    Google Scholar 

  • Ettl H (1983) Chlorophyta I. Phytomonadina. In: Ettl H, Gerloff J, Heynig H, Mollenhauer D (eds) Süßwasserflora von Mitteleuropa, vol 9. Gustav Fischer, Stuttgart

    Google Scholar 

  • Felsenstein J (1985) Confidence limits on phylogenies: an approach using bootstrap. Evolution 39:783–791

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Galtier N, Gouy M, Gautier C (1996) SEAVIEW and PHYLO_WIN: two graphic tools for sequence alignment and molecular phylogeny. Comput Appl Biosci 12:543–548

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Harris EH, Boynton JE, Gillham NW, Burkhart BD, Newman SM (1991) Chloroplast genome organization in Chlamydomonas. Arch Protistenkd 139:183–192

    Google Scholar 

  • Harris EH (2009) The Chlamydomonas sourcebook. Introduction to Chlamydomonas and its laboratory use, vol 1, 2nd edn. Academic Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoshaw RW, Ettl H (1966) Chlamydomonas smithii sp. nov.: a chlamydomonad interfertile with Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. J Phycol 2:93–96

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hu H-J, Wei Y (2006) The freshwater algae of China: systematics, taxonomy and ecology. Science Press, Beijing

    Google Scholar 

  • Huber-Pestalozzi G (1961) Das Phytoplankton des Süßwassers. Systematik und Biologie, 5. Teil. Chlorophyceae (Grüalgen). Ordung: Volvocales. In: Thienemann A (ed) Die Binnengewässer. Einzeldarstellungen aus der Limnologie und ihren Nachbargebieten. Unter Mitwirkung von Fachgenossen herausgegeben, Band XVI. E. Schweizerbartsche Verlagsbuchhandlung (Nägeleu. Obermiller), Stuttgart

  • Iyengar MOP, Desikachary TV (1981) Volvocales. Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi

    Google Scholar 

  • Kato S (1982) Laboratory culture and morphology of Colacium vesiculosum Ehrb. (Euglenophyceae) (in Japanese with English abstract). Jpn J Phycol 30:63–67

    Google Scholar 

  • Larkin MA, Blackshields G, Brown NP, Chenna R, McGettigan PA, McWilliam H, Valentin F, Wallace IM, Wilm A, Lopez R, Thompson JD, Gibson TJ, Higgins DG (2007) ClustalW and Clustal X version 2.0. Bioinformatics 23:2947–2948

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Merchant SS, Prochnik SE, Vallon O, Harris EH, Karpowicz SJ, Witman GB, Terry A, Salamov A, Fritz-Laylin LK, Maréchal-Drouard L, Marshall WF, Qu L-H, Nelson DR, Sanderfoot AA, Spalding MH, Kapitonov VV, Ren Q, Ferris P, Lindquist E, Shapiro H, Lucas SM, Grimwood J, Schmutz J, Cardol P, Cerutti H, Chanfreau G, Chen C-L, Cognat V, Croft MT, Dent R, Dutcher S, Fernández E, Fukuzawa H, González-Ballester D, González-Halphen D, Hallmann A, Hanikenne M, Hippler M, Inwood W, Jabbari K, Kalanon M, Kuras R, Lefebvre PA, Lemaire SD, Lobanov AV, Lohr M, Manuell A, Meier I, Mets L, Mittag M, Mittelmeier T, Moroney JV, Moseley J, Napoli C, Nedelcu AM, Niyogi K, Novoselov SV, Paulsen IT, Pazour G, Purton S, Ral J-P, Riaño-Pachón DM, Riekhof W, Rymarquis L, Schroda M, Stern D, Umen J, Willows R, Wilson N, Zimmer SL, Allmer J, Balk J, Bisova K, Chen C-J, Elias M, Gendler K, Hauser C, Lamb MR, Ledford H, Long JC, Minagawa J, Page MD, Pan J, Pootakham W, Roje S, Rose A, Stahlberg E, Terauchi AM, Yang P, Ball S, Bowler C, Dieckmann CL, Gladyshev VN, Green P, Jorgensen R, Mayfield S, Mueller-Roeber B, Rajamani S, Sayre RT, Brokstein P, Dubchak I, Goodstein D, Hornick L, Huang YW, Jhaveri J, Luo Y, Martínez D, Ngau WC, Otillar B, Poliakov A, Porter A, Szajkowski L, Werner G, Zhou K, Grigoriev IV, Rokhsar DS, Grossman AR (2007) The Chlamydomonas genome reveals the evolution of key animal and plant functions. Science 318:245–250

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nakada T, Suda S, Nozaki H (2007) A taxonomic study of Hafniomonas (Chlorophyceae) based on a comparative examination of cultured material. J Phycol 43:397–411

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nakada T, Misawa K, Nozaki H (2008) Molecular systematics of Volvocales (Chlorophyceae, Chlorophyta) based on exhaustive 18S rRNA phylogenetic analyses. Mol Phylogenet Evol 48:281–291

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nakada T, Soga T, Tomita M (2010) Phylogenetic position of a rare loricated green alga, Cephalomonas granulata N. L. Higinb. (Volvocales, Chlorophyceae). Phycol Res (in press)

  • Nakazawa A, Nozaki H (2004) Phylogenetic analysis of the tetrasporalean genus Asterococcus (Chlorophyceae) based on 18S ribosomal RNA gene sequences. J Jpn Bot 79:255–261

    Google Scholar 

  • Nakazawa A, Krienitz L, Nozaki H (2001) Taxonomy of the unicellular green algal genus Vitreochlamys (Volvocales), based on comparative morphology of cultured material. Eur J Phycol 36:113–128

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nozaki H (2000) Order Volvocales. In: Mizuno T, Takahashi E (eds) An illustrated guide to freshwater zooplankton in Japan. Tokai University Press, Tokyo, pp 474–500 (in Japanese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Nozaki H, Itoh M, Sano R, Uchida H, Watanabe MM, Kuroiwa T (1995) Phylogenetic relationships within the colonial Volvocales (Chlorophyta) inferred from rbcL gene sequence data. J Phycol 31:970–979

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nozaki H, Ito M, Sano R, Uchida H, Watanabe MM, Takahashi H, Kuroiwa T (1997) Phylogenetic analysis of Yamagishiella and Platydorina (Volvocaceae, Chlorophyta) based on rbcL gene sequences. J Phycol 33:272–278

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nygaard G (1945) Dansk planteplankton: en flora over de vigtigste Ferskvandsformer. Gyldendalske Boghandel Nordisk Forlag, Copenhagen

    Google Scholar 

  • Nylander JAA (2004) MrModeltest v2. Program distributed by the author. Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Sweden

    Google Scholar 

  • Pascher A (1927) Volvocales = Phytomonadinae. Flagellatae IV = Chlorophyceae I. In: Pascher A (ed) Die Süßwasser-Flora Deutschlands, Österreichs und der Schweiz, Heft 4. Gustav Fischer, Jana

    Google Scholar 

  • Pascher A, Jahoda R (1928) Neue Polyblepharidinen und Chlamydomonadinen aus den Almtümpeln um Lunz. Arch Protistenkd 61:239–281

    Google Scholar 

  • Posada D, Crandall KA (1998) Modeltest: testing the model DNA substitution. Bioinformatics 14:817–818

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pringsheim EG (1930) Neue Chlamydomonadaceen, welche in Reinkultur gewonnen wurden. Arch Protistenkd 69:95–102

    Google Scholar 

  • Pringsheim EG (1946) Pure cultures of algae. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Printz H (1913) Kristianiatraktens Protococcoideer. Vidensk Skr I Math Nat 6:1–123

    Google Scholar 

  • Pröschold T, Silva PC (2007) (1768) Proposal to change the listed type of Chlamydomonas Ehrenb., nom. cons. (Chlorophyta). Taxon 56:595–596

    Google Scholar 

  • Pröschold T, Marin B, Schlösser UG, Melkonian M (2001) Molecular phylogeny and taxonomic revision of Chlamydomonas (Chlorophyta). I. Emendation of Chloromonas Gobi, and description of Oogamochlamys gen. nov. and Lobochlamys gen. nov. Protist 152:265–300

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pröschold T, Harris EH, Coleman AW (2005) Portrait of a species: Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Genetics 170:1601–1610

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ronquist F, Huelsenbeck JP (2003) MrBayes 3: Bayesian phylogenetic inference under mixed models. Bioinformatics 19:1572–1574

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schlösser UG (1976) Entwicklungsstadien- und sippenspezifische Zellwand-Autolysine bei der Freisetzung von Fortpflanzungszellen in der Gattung Chlamydomonas. Ber Deutsch Bot Ges 89:1–56

    Google Scholar 

  • Schlösser UG (1982) Sammlung von Algenkulturen. Ber Deutsch Bot Ges 95:181–276

    Google Scholar 

  • Schlösser UG (1984) Species-specific sporangium autolysins (cell-wall-dissolving enzymes) in the genus Chlamydomonas. In: Irvine DEG, John DM (eds) Systematics of the green algae. Academic Press, London, pp 409–418

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith GM, Regnery DC (1950) Inheritance of sexuality in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 36:246–248

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Snow JW (1902) The plankton algae of Lake Erie, with special reference to the Chlorophyceae. US Fish Com Bull 1902:371–394

    Google Scholar 

  • Starr RC (1964) The culture collection of algae at Indiana University. Am J Bot 81:1013–1044

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Swofford DL (2002) PAUP*: phylogenetic analysis using parsimony (* and other methods). Version 4.0b10. Sinauer, Sunderland

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Dr. Kazuyuki Miyaji (Toho University) for his kind help with the sample collection in Kagoshima. We thank all members of the Institute for Advanced Biological Sciences at Keio University for their kind support. This work was supported by grants from Yamagata Prefectural Government and Tsuruoka City.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Advanced Biosciences, Keio University, 246-2 Mizukami, Kakuganji, Tsuruoka, Yamagata, 997-0052, Japan

    Takashi Nakada, Haruka Shinkawa, Takuro Ito & Masaru Tomita

  2. Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, Fujisawa, 252-8520, Japan

    Takashi Nakada, Takuro Ito & Masaru Tomita

  3. Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University, Fujisawa, 252-8520, Japan

    Haruka Shinkawa & Masaru Tomita

Authors
  1. Takashi Nakada
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Haruka Shinkawa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Takuro Ito
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Masaru Tomita
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Takashi Nakada.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Nakada, T., Shinkawa, H., Ito, T. et al. Recharacterization of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and its relatives with new isolates from Japan. J Plant Res 123, 67–78 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-009-0266-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-009-0266-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation