Light and electron microscopy of Brachiomonas submarina Bohlin (Chlamydomonadales, Chlorophyceae)

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Abstract
Light and electron microscopic observations were made on Brachiomonas submarina Bohlin (Chlamydomonadales, Chlorophyceae). During development, cells change in morphology from a raindrop-like or ellipsoidal form to the diagnostic shape having arms and a tail-like process. Most ultrastructural characteristics are common to those of the unicellular chlorophycean algae, such as, multiple cell wall layers, clockwise absolute orientation of basal bodies and the three over one arrangement of the four-membered rootlets. Some unusual features were also found, including the extension of proximal sheaths connecting opposite basal bodies, branched rhizoplasts that extend to mitochondria, a layered structure associated with the four-membered rootlets, and hair-like projections radiating from the peripheral doublets of each flagellum. The process of flagellar replication is briefly discussed in regard to the accessory basal body–two-membered rootlet connection.