The fine structure of the vegetative cells of Erythrocystis montagnei, a symbiotic red alga.
Erythrocystis montagnei lives as a symbiont on the thallus of another red alga, Laurencia paniculata. This electron microscope study carried out on its vegatative cells shows that the plastids have a fine structure adequate to perform photosynthesis, different from that observed in other parasitic red algae. Starch granules occur frequently in all the cells of the thallus except the large vacuolized basal cell, which joins together the symbionts. These features suggest that Erythrocystis lives on its host plant for reasons other than a lack of photosynthesis.
D003594:Cytoplasmic Granules / Q000648:ultrastructure; D009940:Organoids / Q000648:ultrastructure; D010788:Photosynthesis; D000461:Rhodophyta / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D013213:Starch; D013559:Symbiosis
D013213:Starch