Ultrastructure of blue-green algae

Abstract

Two freshwater blue-green algae, Tolypothrix tenuis and Fremyella diplosiphon, and an oscillatorialike marine alga, were found to possess structures on the photosynthetic lamellae which appear to correspond to the phycobilisomes of red algae. These homologous structures are important because they contain the phycobilins which are accessory pigments involved in photosynthesis. As in the red algae, the phycobilisomes were attached on the outer side of each lamellae, i.e., the side facing away from its own membrane pair. Although our study on Anacystis nidulans has not thus far revealed the presence of phycobilisomes, some observations were made on the structure of the polyhedral bodies. After negative staining, the polyhedral bodies were seen to be composed of regularly spaced subunits arranged in a crystalline array. Elongated segmented rods, which differed from the polyhedral bodies, were found in the nuclear region of apparently healthy Tolypothrix cells.