Pyrenoid
Not to be confused with pyrena, a nutlet within a drupaceous fruit.
- Pyrenoid48 related topics
Hornwort
The name Hornwort also refers to aquatic plants of the genus Ceratophyllum, in the family Ceratophyllaceae
In half of the roughly 200 hornwort species, this chloroplast is fused with other organelles to form a large pyrenoid that both enables more efficient photosynthesis and stores food.
Chlamydomonas reinhardtii
Single-cell green alga about 10 micrometres in diameter that swims with two flagella.
It has a cell wall made of hydroxyproline-rich glycoproteins, a large cup-shaped chloroplast, a large pyrenoid, and an eyespot that senses light.
RuBisCO
Enzyme involved in the first major step of carbon fixation, a process by which atmospheric carbon dioxide is converted by plants and other photosynthetic organisms to energy-rich molecules such as glucose.
Some plants, many algae, and photosynthetic bacteria have overcome this limitation by devising means to increase the concentration of carbon dioxide around the enzyme, including carbon fixation, crassulacean acid metabolism, and the use of pyrenoid.
Chloroplast
Type of membrane-bound organelle known as a plastid that conducts photosynthesis mostly in plant and algal cells.
Some contain pyrenoids.
Photosynthesis
Process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy into chemical energy that, through cellular respiration, can later be released to fuel the organism's activities.
Pyrenoids in algae and hornworts also act to concentrate around RuBisCO.
Photorespiration
Photorespiration (also known as the oxidative photosynthetic carbon cycle or C2 cycle) refers to a process in plant metabolism where the enzyme RuBisCO oxygenates RuBP, wasting some of the energy produced by photosynthesis.
In nearly all species of eukaryotic algae (Chloromonas being one notable exception), upon induction of the CCM, ~95% of RuBisCO is densely packed into a single subcellular compartment: the pyrenoid.
Jean Pierre Étienne Vaucher
Swiss Protestant pastor and botanist who was a native of the Republic of Geneva.
He is credited for describing the development of the networks that occur in the cells of Hydrodictyon (water net algae), and for describing the pyrenoid of algae.
Chloromonas
Genus of green algae in the family Chlamydomonadaceae.
It is closely related to the model green algae, Chlamydomonas, and distinguished mainly through the absence of a pyrenoid.
Chlamydomonas
Genus of green algae consisting of about 150 species all unicellular flagellates, found in stagnant water and on damp soil, in freshwater, seawater, and even in snow as "snow algae".
The nucleus is enclosed in a cup-shaped chloroplast, which has a single large pyrenoid where starch is formed from photosynthetic products. Pyrenoid with starch sheath is present in the posterior end of the chloroplast.
Chlorella pyrenoidosa
Species of the freshwater green alga in the Division Chlorophyta.
The species name pyrenoidosa refers to the presence of a prominent pyrenoid within the Chlorella chloroplast.