Botryococcaceae
Family of algae
Botryococcaceae is a family of green algae in the class Trebouxiophyceae.
Traditionally, Botryococcaceae has been defined on morphological grounds. Members of this family consist of irregular colonies of cells found free-floating or attached to a substrate. Cells are united by mucilaginous stalks that are formed by the gelatinization of the old parent cell walls. Cells may be spherical, ellipsoidal, or ovoid with a chloroplast with or without a pyrenoid. Reproduction occurs exclusively asexually by the formation of autospores. However, molecular phylogenetic studies have found that some genera placed in Botryococcaceae based on morphology alone are unrelated to Botryococcus; the genus Dictyosphaerium is now placed in the family Chlorellaceae.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Botryococcaceae”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Botryococcus braunii.jpg by ja:User:NEON / User:NEON_ja, CC BY-SA 3.0
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