Chlamydomonas: a sexually active, light‐harvesting, carbon‐reducing, hydrogen‐belching ‘planimal’

Abstract

The first EMBO workshop and the 13th international conference on the Cell & Molecular Biology of Chlamydomonas was held between 27 May and 1 June 2008, in Hyeres‐les‐Palmiers, France, and was organized by M. Goldschmidt‐Clermont, C. Silflow & F.‐A. Wollman. ![][1] Imagine walking along a beautiful beach of sand and rock on the Cote d'Azur enjoying the magnificent scenery—and anticipating an excellent meal afterwards—when suddenly, from the waters arises a tiny monstrosity: part plant, part animal and even part bacterium. It is green and gets its energy from the sun; it also swims (doing the breast stroke) in search of quality light, nutrients and mates, and yet it can ferment and emit hydrogen in a manner similar to an anaerobic bacterium. Furthermore, despite its bizarre chimeric nature, this beast seems to be perfectly adapted to its life. Although this description might seem fantastic, it is none the less accurate and is essentially what 242 Chlamydomonas researchers from 19 countries were confronted with during the first European Molecular Biology Organization workshop and the 13th international conference on the Cell & Molecular Biology of Chlamydomonas (Fig 1). This conference forced many researchers working on various aspects of the unicellular alga Chlamydomonas , or ‘Chlamy’ as it is affectionately called, to face the fact that all this time they have been working on a ‘planimal’—an organism with traits that do not fit easily into nice, neat categories. Although this has long been appreciated by the Chlamy community, the bulk of which has been traditionally divided between those working on photosynthesis and chloroplasts, and those working on flagella and motility, new insights coming primarily from the genomes of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and the related multicellular alga Volvox carteri have shown us that the chimeric nature of Chlamy runs deep. After all, how many organisms can, at … [1]: /embed/graphic-1.gif