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Cell surface studies of Chlorella sp. strain NC64A, a symbiotic, eukaryotic green alga
Abstract
The cell surface of symbiotic Chlorella is thought to contain specific recognition factors important to establishing and maintaining symbiosis with protoctists and invertebrate animals. The goal of the research was to identify, isolate and characterize the cell surface recognition factors of symbiotic Chlorella and determine their role in the biology of symbiotic relationships involving Chlorella. This dissertation describes the chemical and biological analysis of two classes of cell-surface constituents from the symbiotic green alga, NC64A. The first class studied was a suite of surface proteins accessible to chemical labelling. The unexpected discovery of a second class of cell surface components was the major focus of this work. Herein, the detection, isolation and analysis of the first lipopolysaccharides to be found in association with eukaryotic cells is described. A survey of thirteen strains of symbiotic, pathogenic and free-living algae was done to establish the incidence of lipopolysaccharide production among a diverse group of algae. All algal strains analyzed were found to produce lipopolysaccharide. The amount and potency of the lipopolysaccharide produced varied with the biological status of the algae; pathogenic strains tended to have the most active lipopolysaccharide, symbiotic strains exhibited an intermediate level of activity, and the free-living strains showed the least activity. The discovery of lipopolysaccharides in algae is hypothesized to have profound significance with relation to previous unexplained observations regarding algal life history and biology. This proposition is discussed in detail.
Subject Area
Botany|Cellular biology|Microbiology
Recommended Citation
Royce, Clare Lynn, "Cell surface studies of Chlorella sp. strain NC64A, a symbiotic, eukaryotic green alga" (1995). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9600754.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9600754