Independent localization of plasma membrane and chloroplast components during eyespot assembly.

ABSTRACT: Like many algae, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is phototactic, using two anterior flagella to swim toward light optimal for photosynthesis. The flagella are responsive to signals initiated at the photosensory eyespot, which comprises photoreceptors in the plasma membrane and layers of pigment granules in the chloroplast. Phototaxis depends on placement of the eyespot at a specific asymmetric location relative to the flagella, basal bodies, and bundles of two or four highly acetylated microtubules, termed rootlets, which extend from the basal bodies toward the posterior of the cell. Previous work has shown that the eyespot is disassembled prior to cell division, and new eyespots are assembled in daughter cells adjacent to the nascent four-membered rootlet associated with the daughter basal body

SUBMITTER: Mittelmeier TM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3811559 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature