Identification and molecular characterization of a novel Chlamydomonas reinhardtii mutant defective in chlorophyll biosynthesis.

The green micro-alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is an elegant model organism to study all aspects of oxygenic photosynthesis. Chlorophyll (Chl) and heme are major tetrapyrroles that play an essential role in energy metabolism in photosynthetic organisms and are synthesized via a common branched tetrapyrrole biosynthetic pathway. One of the enzymes in the pathway is Mg chelatase (MgChel) which inserts Mg (2+) into protoporphyrin IX (PPIX, proto) to form magnesium-protoporphyrin IX (MgPPIX, Mgproto), the first biosynthetic intermediate in the Chl branch.

Identification and molecular characterization of the second Chlamydomonas gun4 mutant, gun4-II.

The green micro-alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is an elegant model organism to study oxygenic photosynthesis. Chlorophyll (Chl) and heme are major tetrapyrroles that play an essential role in photosynthesis and respiration. These tetrapyrroles are synthesized via a common branched pathway that involves mainly enzymes, encoded by nuclear genes.