PROCHLOROPHYTA

(Chloroxybacteria)

NK Torreta, IBS, CAS, UPLB

Chloroxybacteria: Prochloron
p Ralph Lewin, 1976,
Scripps Institute of
Oceanography
p Unicellular,
prokaryotic, from
sea squirts from
Baja California,
Mexico

NK Torreta, IBS, CAS, UPLB

 Didemnum molle, one of the
ascidians (tunicates) that harbors
Prochloron

Vertical section through part of a colony of Diplosoma similis

showing algal cells lining the common cloacal canals. Drawing and
two photos of colonies from Patricia Kott, 1982: Micronesica 18:
95-127.

Lissoclinum bistratum,
NK Torreta, IBS, CAS, UPLB
another host. http://web.mst.edu/~microbio/BIO221_2010/images/
Prochloron-2.jpg
Prochlorothrix
p 1984 group of Dutch
scientists:
Burger-Wiersman
p Isolated from
Loosdretch lakes in
Netherlands
p Filamentous and free
living

NK Torreta, IBS, CAS, UPLB

Prochlorococcus
p 1988 SW Chisholm,
C Ting, J King
p found in deep
euphotic zones
(where there is
sufficient light for
photosynthesis)
of open oceans
p Extremely small Electron micrographs of longitudinal and cross sections of Prochlorococcus strain MIT9313
showing tightly appressed thylakoids at the periphery of the cell. Scale bar, 0.1 µm.
Unpublished photographs courtesy of C. Ting, J. King, and S. W. Chisholm.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/instance/98958/bin/mr0190005004.gif

NK Torreta, IBS, CAS, UPLB

Characteristics
p Prokaryotic
p Thylakoids grouped into stacks (lamellae)
containing two (Paired thylakoid membranes)
to several thylakoids, like Chlorophyta and
higher plants.
p Has chlorophyll a & b, carotenoids
p Uses chlorophyll b in PS II
p Cells reproduce by constrictive binary fission

NK Torreta, IBS, CAS, UPLB

p reserve polysaccharide is starch-like.

p DNA has a diffuse distribution, not

concentrated in the center of the cell as it
usually is in the Cyanobacteria.

p The cell wall is similar to that of the

Cyanobacteria and contains a peptidoglycan
(murein) layer.

NK Torreta, IBS, CAS, UPLB

Classification
p Division: Prochlorophyta

p Class: Prochlorophyceae

p Order: Prochlorales

p Family: Prochloraceae

p Type species:
Prochloron didemni Lewin

NK Torreta, IBS, CAS, UPLB

NK Torreta, IBS, CAS, UPLB
TEM micrograph of Prochloron showing the thylakoid system.

http://comenius.susqu.edu/bi/202/EUBACTERIA/OXYPHOTOBACTERIAE/
chloroxybacteria/Chloroxybacteria-frame.htm
NK Torreta, IBS, CAS, UPLB
 Section of Prochloron
didemni epizoic on
Didemnum aff. candidum,
showing the peripherally
arranged stacked thylakoids
(t), large intrathylakoidal
spaces (is) and storage
bodies (s)

NK Torreta, IBS, CAS, UPLB

 Section of
Prochloron from the
common cloaca of
Didemnum molle
showing thylakoids
(t), prominent
electron dense
osmiophillic bodies
(ob) and polyhedral
bodies (pb)
distributed
throughout the
cytoplasm.

NK Torreta, IBS, CAS, UPLB

NK Torreta, IBS, CAS, UPLB
Systematics of Chloroxybacteria

p Lewin (1977): Prochloron Prochlorophyta

p Margulis and Schwartz (1988): due to its unique

status and bacterial nature: Chloroxybacteria

p Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology, V 3,

Sect. 19: Prochlorales within the Oxygenic
Photosynthetic Bacteria
Class Oxyphotobacteria

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p Margulis and Schwartz (1998): subsumed the
Chloroxybacteria into the Cyanobacteria
■ prochlorophytes not in the same clade but spread
throughout the bluegreens
■ assumed that the prochloron-like characters evolved more
than once.

p Garrity et al. (2001) also have the

chloroxybacterial "form genera" scattered through
the Cyanobacteria.
■ placed Prochloron with other coccoid bluegreens and
Prochlorothrix with the filamentous bluegreens.

NK Torreta, IBS, CAS, UPLB

p Lewin, R. 2002. Prochlorophyta – a matter of
class distinctions. Photosynthesis Research 73:
59-61.
■ Based on molecular biology studies, most
nucleotide sequences indicate that
prochlorophytes are closely related to
cyanobacteria
■ Therefore, it is expedient to subsume
them into cyanobacteria
NK Torreta, IBS, CAS, UPLB
p recent molecular evidence suggests:
■ Prochlorophyta belong well within the lineage of
Cyanobacteria
■ 3 genera do not group together on the basis of
DNA data.

http://www.jochemnet.de/fiu/bot4404/cyanotree.gif
NK Torreta, IBS, CAS, UPLB
http://hypnea.botany.uwc.ac.za/phylogeny/classif/cyan6.htm