Electroporation of DNA into the Unicellular Green Alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

Molecular characterization of complex cellular processes depends on the use of model systems in which a classical genetic approach can be combined with molecular techniques of gene cloning and DNA transfer. Several features of the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii make it a suitable model system for studying such cellular processes as motility, photosynthesis, respiration, circadian rhythms, intermediary metabolism, and signal transduction. These features include a haploid genome of small size, simple vegetative and sexual cycles, and the ease of maintaining laboratory cultures in liquid or as single colonies on agar plates. Classical genetic analyses of Chlamydomonas , including mutagenesis, linkage, and complementation, have produced a large and detailed genetic map (1 ). Recently developed techniques for efficient transformation (2 –8 ) and insertional mutagenesis (9 ) of Chlamydomonas nuclear and organelle genomes promise to accelerate the genetic analysis of these and other complex cellular processes.