title: Chlamydomonas reinhardtii: the model of choice to study mitochondria from unicellular photosynthetic organisms.
abstract: Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is a model organism to study photosynthesis, cellular division, flagellar biogenesis, and, more recently, mitochondrial function. It has distinct advantages in comparison to higher plants because it is unicellular, haploid, and amenable to tetrad analysis, and its three genomes are subject to specific transformation. It also has the possibility to grow either photoautotrophically or heterotrophically on acetate, making the assembly of the photosynthetic machinery not essential for cell viability. Methods developed allow the isolation of C. reinhardtii mitochondria free of thylakoid contaminants. We review the general procedures used for the biochemical characterization of mitochondria from this green alga.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Physiologische Chemie, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany.
authors.forename: Soledad
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Funes
authors.forename: Lars-Gunnar
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Franzén
authors.forename: Diego
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: González-Halphen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001345:Autoradiography; D002458:Cell Fractionation / Q000379:methods*; D016825:Chlamydomonas reinhardtii / Q000166:cytology* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D002734:Chlorophyll / Q000378:metabolism; D002999:Clone Cells; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D005998:Glycine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000378:metabolism*; D024101:Mitochondrial Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D008954:Models, Biological; D010085:Oxidative Phosphorylation; D010788:Photosynthesis; D011499:Protein Processing, Post-Translational; D021381:Protein Transport; D020524:Thylakoids / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D024101:Mitochondrial Proteins; D002734:Chlorophyll; D005998:Glycine; C100184:tricine