Ostreococcus tauri

Ostreococcus tauri
Transmission electron micrograph of an O. tauri cell
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Clade: Viridiplantae
Division: Chlorophyta
Class: Mamiellophyceae
Order: Mamiellales
Family: Bathycoccaceae
Genus: Ostreococcus
Species:
O. tauri
Binomial name
Ostreococcus tauri
C. Courties & M.-J. Chrétiennot-Dinet (1995)

Ostreococcus tauri is a unicellular species of marine green alga about 0.8 micrometres (μm) in diameter, the smallest free-living (non-symbiotic) eukaryote yet described. It has a very simple ultrastructure, and a compact genome.

As a common member of global oceanic picoplankton populations, this organism has a major role in the carbon cycle in many areas and often uses light receptors called phototropins to sense external light.[1] Recently, O. tauri has been the subject of studies using comparative genomics and functional genomics,[2][3][4][5] as it is of interest to researchers because of its compact genome and green lineage.

  1. ^ Veetil, S.K; Mittal, C; Ranjan, P; Kateriya, S (July 2011). "A conserved isoleucine in the LOV1 domain of a novel phototropin from the marine alga Ostreococcus tauri modulates the dark state recovery of the domain". Biochim Biophys Acta. 1810 (7): 675–82. doi:10.1016/j.bbagen.2011.04.008. PMID 21554927.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Derelle 2006 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Palenik 2007 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Blanc-Mathieu 2014 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Krumholz 2012 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).