spirogyra-pratensis-genome

Project information

The filamentous green alga Spirogyra pratensis is a member of the class Zygnemophyceae, also called conjugating green algae. The genus Spirogyra comprises 531 widely distributed, freshwater species. S. pratensis is characterized by unbranched filaments formed by cells longer than broad, with one or more typical helical chloroplasts. Spirogyra filaments can attach to solid substrates with the help of rhizoids. Like many Zygnemophyceae algae, Spirogyra also produces a sheath of mucilage. Recent phylogenomic work of Hess et al. (2022) has shown that the genus Spirogyra is separated from the order of Zygnematales and forms the sister clade of the Desmidiales. These findings have led to the proposition of the new order of “Spirogyrales”, which currently contains the genera Spirogyra and Sirogonium both belonging to the family of Spirogyraceae.

S. pratensis strain MZCH#10213 has been selected from the Microalgae and Zygnemophyceae Collection Hamburg for sequencing and elucidation of its genomic landscape because it is easy to grow and offers the possibility to control its life cycle under in vitro conditions. When cultivated on agar, conjugation channels (scalariform and lateral) followed by the formation of zygospores can easily be observed. S. pratensis MZCH#10213 is an emerging model system, easy to cultivate using liquid or solid media (C- or WHM-medium). Methods of transient genetic transformation are currently optimized. [Image credit: Klaus von Schwartzenberg]