M18 aspartyl aminopeptidases (DAPs) are well characterized in microbes and animals with likely functions in peptide processing and vesicle trafficking. In contrast, there is a dearth of knowledge on plant aminopeptidases with a preference for proteins and peptides with N-terminal acidic residues. During evolution of the Plantae, there was an expansion and diversification of the M18 DAPs. After ...

By synthesizing data from individual gene phylogenies, large concatenated gene trees, and other kinds of molecular, morphological, and biochemical markers, we begin to see the broad outlines of a global phylogenetic tree of eukaryotes. This tree is apparently composed of five large assemblages, or "supergroups." Plants and algae, or more generally eukaryotes with plastids (the photosynthetic or...

We present a method for segmenting 2D microscopy images of freshwater green microalgae. Our approach is based on a specialized level set method, leading to efficient and highly accurate algae segmentation. The level set formulation of our problem allows us to generate an algae’s boundary curve as the result of an evolving level curve, based on computed background and algae regions in a given im...

1. Chloroplast Inheritance 1.1. Early Cytological Observations of Chloroplast Inheritance 1.2. Chloroplast Inheritance in Isogamous Organisms 1.2.1. Unicellular Green Algae: Chlamydomonas reinhardtii 1.2.2. Discovery of Chloroplast DNA 1.2.3. Molecular Mechanism of Non-Mendelian Inheritance of cpDNA 1.2.4. Transformation of cpDNA 1.2.5. Active Digestion of mt– cpDNA Revealed in a Single Zygote ...

For the first time effects of norflurazon on green (Hydra viridissima Pallas, 1766) and brown hydra (Hydra oligactis Pallas, 1766) in high- and low-light conditions were investigated in order to establish the extent of damage that this substance inflicts, with special emphasis on the "bleaching effect" and the effect on hydra-algae symbiosis. Green hydra is a typical example of an endosymbiotic...

Green autofluorescence (GAF) has been described in the short flagellum of golden and brown algae, the stigma of Euglenophyceae, and cytoplasm of different life stages of dinoflagellates and is considered by some researchers a valuable taxonomic feature for dinoflagellates. In addition, green fluorescence staining has been widely proposed or adopted to measure cell viability (or physiological st...

The stoichiometry and antenna sizes of the two photosystems in two marine green algae, Bryopsis maxima and Ulva pertusa, were investigated to examine whether the photosynthetic apparatus of the algae can be related to the light environment of their natural habitat. Bryopsis maxima and Ulva pertusa had chlorophyll (Chl) a/b ratios of 1.5 and 1.8, respectively, indicating large levels of Chl b, w...

Benthic algae in the littoral region of Lake Tanganyika serve as chemical modulators transforming inorganic chemicals into organic forms, represent habitats for other organisms, provide food for snails and cichlid fish and are important in stabilizing the substrata of community existence. These algae represent an evolutionary diverse group of photoautotrophic organisms that contain chlorophyll ...

A microplate technique was developed to determine the conditions under which pure cultures of algae removed heavy metals from aqueous solutions. Variables investigated included algal species and strain, culture age (11 and 44 days), metal (mercury, lead, cadmium, and zinc), pH, effects of different buffer solutions, and time of exposure. Plastic, U-bottomed microtiter plates were used in conjun...

A green ciliate Paramecium bursaria, bearing several hundreds of endosymbiotic algae, demonstrates rotational microtubule-based cytoplasmic streaming, in which cytoplasmic granules and endosymbiotic algae flow in a constant direction. However, its physiological significance is still unknown. We investigated physiological roles of cytoplasmic streaming in P. bursaria through host cell cycle usin...