CHLAMYDOMONAS

Introduction
Chlamydomonas belongs to the division Chlorophyta, the members of which are grass
green in color due to the abundance of chlorophyll a and b over carotene and xanthophylls.
Chlamydomonas is widely found in fresh water bodies like ponds, ditches, swimming pools,
lakes, etc. and also on moist soil. Few of its species are even marine. One species, [Link] is
found in snow in arctic and alpine regions, imparting red colour to snow environment making
‘red snow’. All species except one ([Link]) have obligate autotrophic nutrition. .

Structure
Chlamydomonas is a biflagellate, unicellular oval to oblong green algae with 20-30 µm in
diameter (Fig.16). The cell is bounded by a cellulosic cell wall and a capsule enclosing a
protoplast which contains a cup shaped choloroplast, two contractite vacuoles, a red eye spot and
other cell organelles. The Nucleus is present in the center or near to the anterior end of the cell.
Chloroplast is cup shaped, which almost fills the cell at is blunt hinder end and has one medium
sized starch forming structure – the pyrenoid at its posterior end and a photoreceptive organ –
eyespot at its anterior end.

Fig. 1 Structure of Chlamydomonas sp

Life cycle
Chlamydomonas reproduce in two ways:
i. Asexual reproduction
ii. Sexual reproduction
i) Asexual reproduction
A sexual reproduction occurs through different methods.
a. Zoospore formation
Under favorable environmental conditions, Chlamydomonas reproduce asexually by formation
of zoospores (Fig.2). During the process, the parental cell discards the flagella and comes to rest.
In some species, however, the cell remains motile. The vacuole disappear and the protoplast is
withdrawn from the cell. It divides mitotically by several successive bipartitions (all longitudinal
and simultaneous) to produce 4,8 or 16 uninucleated daughter protoplasts.
 The chloroplast along with pyrenoid is also halved with each successive division. Parental
eyespot is received by only one of the daughters, whereas in others it is formed a new. All
daughter protoplasts are aflagellate and lie parallel to each other within the parental cell wall.
These daughter protoplasts become mitozoospores or zoospores by secreting a cell wall,
acquiring a pair of flagella and a contractile vacuole, and gets liberated with rupturing or
gelatinizing of cell wall. The mitozoospores are exactly like the parental cell except that these are
smaller in size. These grow in size and repeat the process almost daily under ideal conditions.
The process takes only few hours.

b. Aplanospore formation
Chlamydomonas can also reproduce by formation of aplanospores. The parental cell resorbs
the flagella and comes to rest. Its protoplast gets round up and develops a thin wall around itself,
to become an aplanospore. At times, it may develop a thick cell wall with red coloration. Such
resting spores are called hypanospore.

c. Palmella stage
Under unfavourable conditions, Chlamydomonas develops into a palmella stage. Just like
zoospore formation, here also the protoplast divides successively by bipartition method to
produce 2, 4 or 8 cells without development of flagella and gets released. These remain together
within the gelatinized parental cell wall. Daughter cells may also divide further and the process
of division may continue to produce a colony of considerable size in which numerous aflagellate
daughter protoplasts remain embedded within a common mucilaginous matrix formed from the
cell wall of the parent and daughter cells of successive generations. This assemblage of cells
which is short lived is known as Palmella stage (Fig.17). With the recurrence of ideal growth
conditions,these cells transform in zoospores by acquiring a flagella.

Sometimes cells in a palmella stage convert into a hypanospore by secreting a thick cell wall.
Fig. 17: Life cycle of Chlamydomonas
i. Sexual reproduction
Sexual reproduction can be isogamous, anisogamous or oogamous depending upon the species
and environmental conditions like deficiency of nutrition, nitrogen supply, presence of calcium
etc. All the anisogamous and oogamous species are heterothallic. Isogamous species may be
homo or heterothallic in nature. The gametes produced are biflagellate and are with
(calyptogametes) or without a cell wall (gymnogametes). In isogamous species, gametes may be
gymno - or calypto - gamete whereas in others it is only calyptogametes.

a. Isogamy
Here, sexual reproduction involves the fusion between morphologically identical gametes (Fig.
17). In homothallic species these gametes come from the same parental cell, which comes to
rest, retracts its flagella and undergoes successive bipartitions to produce 16, 32 or even 64
daughter protoplasts. Each of the protoplast develops a pair of flagella and becomes a pear
shaped gamete. These gametes are released into the surrounding water with rupture of the parent
cell wall and fuses in pairs either sideways or end to end. A quadriflagellate zygote is produced
which swims for a while before coming to rest. It withdraws its flagella, becomes round and
develops a thick cell wall to become a zygospore.

Gametes in heterothallic species are morphologically alike but physiologically and functionally
show disparity. These come from parents of two different mating types, i.e., + (Plus) and –
(Minus) by repeated division of the protoplast. In case of C. moewusii, vegetative cells
themselves function as calyptogametes.

The calyptogametes of opposite mating types get attracted because of a glycoprotein substance –
isoaglutinins – and forms clump through entanglement of flagellar tips (Fig.18). The
calyptogametes then emerge out from the clump in pairs (+ & -). These swim for some time
with the help of the flagella of + strain and then the protoplasts of the paired individuals slip out
from their cell wall. The two protoplasts fuse to form a zygote which develops a thick cell wall
and becomes a zygospore.

b. Anisogamy
Starting of anisogamy can be seen in C. monoica where gametes are morphologically alike
(physiological anisogamy). After pairing of gametes, the protoplast of one flows entirely into the
cell wall of another and fuses with it (Fig. 18).
Well-defined anisogamy can be seen in C. braunii. The gametes produced are of different size.
The male gamete (micro-gamete) is about half the size of the female (macorgamete) gamete and
is produced in larger number (8 or 16 per cell) as compared to female gametes, which count 2 to
4 per cell. Also, microgametes are more motile than macrogamete. The microgamete swims
towards the macrogamete, gets attached to it and pass on its protoplasm into the cell wall of the
macrogamete. Fusion of cytoplasm followed by nuclear and chloroplast fusion results in the
formation of a zygote. Zygote loses its flagella and becomes zygospore.

In both isogamy and anisogamy, gametes fuse in surrounding water.

c. Oogamy
Primitive type of oogamy can be seen in few species of Chlamydomonas, e.g.
C. coccifera. Here, female mother cell discards its flagella and directly
transforms into a round non-motile single macrogamete or egg, which is never
shed. On the other hand, microgametes are produced from the male parent cell
by repeated divisions. About 16 biflagellated microgametes are formed per
cell, which are shed in water. Male gametes swim and one of them attaches
itself to the macrogamete (Fig.-18). Once the intervening wall dissolves, its
protoplast pass over to the macrogamete and fusion of the two results in the
formation of a non-motile zygote.

Fig.18: Reproduction types in Chlamydomonas

Zygospores formed during the sexual reproduction represent the resting period
during unfavourble conditions. It is orange red, spherical in structure with a
thick, smooth or stellate wall. It also contains fat, reserve food material and
germinates in water. At the time of germination, its color changes from red to
green and diploid nucleus undergoes meiosis to produce 4 or rarely 8 haploid
nuclei which develop into meiospores with a thick cell wall and a pair of
flagella and are liberated with rupturing of the zygospore wall. Released
meiospores grow in to an adult.
Sexual reproduction increases vitality and vigour in the species and also helps
in survival under adverse conditions.

Thus, life cycle of Chlamydomonas comprises of two phases –

i. Haploid Phase – represented by vegetative cell and the gametes.

ii. Diploid Phase – represented by the zygote.

However, there are no regular alternations of haploid and diploid generations.