Spirogyra
Introduction:
Spirogyra are free-floating green algae present in freshwater habitats such as ponds,
lakes, etc. Spirogyra are commonly known as “water silk or pond silk”. They have a
filamentous and unbranched vegetative structure.
They are named after their beautiful spiral chloroplasts. There are around 400 species of
Spirogyra found. The genus Spirogyra is named after the unique spiral chloroplast
present in the cells of algae. Spirogyra is photosynthetic and contributes substantially to
the total carbon dioxide fixation carried out.
They increase the level of oxygen in their habitat. Many aquatic organisms feed on them.
Each cell of the filaments features a large central vacuole, within which the nucleus is
suspended by fine strands of cytoplasm.
The chloroplasts form a spiral around the vacuole. The cell wall consists of an inner layer
of cellulose and an outer layer of pectin, which is responsible for the slippery texture of
the algae. In spring, Spirogyra grows under water. When there is enough sunlight and
warmth they produce large amounts of oxygen, which get stored as bubbles between the
tangled filaments.
Structure of Spirogyra
The vegetative structure of Spirogyra shows as unbranched filamentous thallus. The
thallus is multicellular with each cylindrical cell joined end to end. They are 10-100 µm
in width and may grow several centimeters in length. They are present as a slimy mass
due to the presence of mucilage sheath around the filament. The cell wall consists of two
layers viz. inner cellulose and outer pectose. The slimy mucilage sheath is due to the
dissolution of pectose in water. In each cell, there is a nucleus, cytoplasm, a large central
vacuole and spiral chloroplasts. Chloroplasts are ribbon-shaped and arranged spirally.
There may be 1-16 chloroplasts present in a cell. Chloroplast contains many paranoids in
a row. Paranoids store starch and protein.
Reproduction
Spirogyra undergo vegetative, asexual and sexual reproduction. The life cycle of
Spirogyra is haplontic, i.e. the dominant stage is free-living haploid (n) gametophyte and
the sporophyte is represented only by the diploid zygote (2n).Vegetative reproduction is
by fragmentation. Under the favorable conditions, vegetative reproduction is the
preferred mode of reproduction.
The vegetative filament after fragmentation develops into a new filament. Each fragment
undergoes multiple division and elongation to form a new filament. Fragmentation can be
due to mechanical injury or dissolution of the middle lamella with a change in the salinity
and temperature of the water. Sometimes the middle lamella of one cell protrudes into an
adjacent cell resulting in the breakage of the filament.
Asexual reproduction can be found in few species of Spirogyra. Asexual reproduction is
carried out by the formation of azygospores, akinetes or aplanospores. Formation of
aplanospores occurs under unfavorable conditions. The protoplast shrinks and forms a
wall around it. This results in the formation of aplanospores Akinetes are also formed
similarly but they have a thicker cell wall of cellulose and pectin Akinetes and
aplanospores are non-motile spores, which develop into a new filament under favourable
conditions after the decay of the parent filament Zygospores are also known as parthenos
pores. These are the gametes, that failed to fuse during sexual reproduction and develop
into a new filament asexually Sexual reproduction in Spirogyra is isogamous which
means that male and female gametes of same size fuse together in the sexual
reproduction. Sexual reproduction is by conjugation. Conjugation can be further divided
into two types,
Scalariform conjugation and lateral conjugation.
