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Subject : Botany Topic : Chlorella Descriptive and easily understandable. Important diagrams included. Written in point wise.
Typology: Study notes
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Class : Chlorophyceae Order : Chlorococcales Family : Chlorellaceae Occurrence : Some species are terrestrial and grow on moist rocks, soil, damp walls and tree trunks. A few species also occur in symbiotic association with lichens and animals like Paramecium and Hydra. C. itching is a common phycobiont of lichens. Thallus structure : Chlorella is a small, non-motile and unicellular green alga. Its cells are generally solitary but sometimes form irregular colonies.
They are spherical or oval to ellipsoidal in shape. Each cell is bounded by a thin cellulose cell wall. Internally, the cell possesses a large cup-shaped parietal chloroplast which occupies a major part of the cell. Presence of single pyrenoid, located in the matrix of chloroplast which is bordered by numerous starch plates. The cup-shaped cavity of the chloroplast is occupied by a single nucleus, hyaline cytoplasm and other cellular organelles, such as mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum, golgi bodies, lipid bodies and vacuoles. Reproduction : Chlorella reproduces only by asexual methods, i.e. by the production of autospores. These are non-motile spores having the same structure as that of the parent cell except that they are smaller in size.
Economic importance Chlorella is a very good experimental material for the study of photosynthesis, respiration and other physiological experiments. It is an edible alga because of its high nutritional value. It is used as a source of SCP (single cell protein) for human consumption in many countries like Japan, Israel, Germany, USA, etc. Because of the high rate of photosynthesis, Chlorella is used as a ready source of oxygen in space ships and nuclear submarines. Chlorella is used extensively in sewage disposal plants, where it acts as an aerating agent by removing carbon dioxide & restoring oxygen by the process of photosynthesis. The antibiotic chlorellin is extracted from Chlorella.
