Life Cycle and Supplementary Comments on the Light Microscopic Morphology of Nannochloris eucaryota

Abstract

Light microscopic characteristics of the extremely small cells of Nannochloris eucaryota allow distinction from other similar or related chlorophycean species. These characteristics are the already well known spherical to slightly ellipsoidal cell form, the form of the chloroplast (being a thick band or plate bending along the cell wall), the presence of oil droplets, the absence of crystalloid bodies, the mode of cytokinesis which starts excentrically, and the peculiarities of cell walls in the course of autosporulation. The nature of two peculiarly located grains within the chloroplasts (possibly of starch) needs electron microscopical verification.

Key words

Nannochloris eucaryota - chlorophyta - chloroplast - autospores - light microscopy