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Eustigmataceae |
Eustigmatophytes are a small group (7 genera; ~12 species) of eukaryotic algae that includes marine, freshwater and soil-living species2. All eustigmatophytes are unicellular, with coccoid cells and polysaccharide cell walls. Eustigmatophytes contain one or more yellow-green chloroplasts, which contain chlorophyll a and the accessory pigments violaxanthin and β-carotene. Eustigmatophyte zoids (gametes) possess a single or pair of flagella, originating from the apex of the cell. Unlike other heterokontophytes, eustigmatophyte zoids do not have typical photoreceptive organelles (or eyespot); instead, an orange-red eyespot outside of a chloroplast is located at the anterior end of the zoid.
In terms of ecology, eustigmatophytes occur as photosynthetic autotrophs across a range of systems. Most eustigmatophyte genera live in freshwater or in soil, although Nannochloropsis contains marine species of picophytoplankton (2 → 4 μm).
References
- ^ Hegewald E., Padisák J., Friedl T. 2007. Pseudotetraëdriella kamillae: taxonomy and ecology of a new member of the algal class Eustigmatophyceae (Stramenopiles). Hydrobiologia 586 (1): 107—116.
- ^ Hoek, C. van den, Mann, D. G. and Jahns, H. M. (1995). Algae : An introduction to phycology, Cambridge University Press, UK.
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