Wednesday 21 November 2012

Algae can break down cellulose


Researchers at Bielefeld University have found that the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, not only engages in photosynthesis, but can also obtain energy from other plants. The research focused on growing algae in a low-C02 environment and how the plants responded to such a shortage.  In these conditions the algae drew energy from neighbouring vegetable cellulose found in plant matted. Read more...
Scanning electron microscope image, showing an...
Scanning electron microscope image, showing an example of green algae (Chlorophyta). Chlamydomanas reinhardtii is a unicellular flagellate used as a model system in molecular genetics work and flagellar motility studies. Smith, E.F and P.A. Lefebvre (1996) "PF16 Encodes a Protein with Armadillo Repeats and Localizes to a Single Microtubule of the Central Apparatus in Chlamydomonas Flagella", J. Cell Biology, 132(3): 359-370 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Enhanced by Zemanta

No comments:

Post a Comment