Using Chlamydomonas to identify factors involved in acclimation to limited iron

Abstract

The means for populations of organisms to be able to cope with changes to survive and reproduce have been demonstrated for many years through the various mechanisms of evolution. Organisms must acclimate to changes to survive and reproduce. Acclimation is an adjustment or response of an organism to its environment. Chlamydomonas a unicellular green alga is a good model organism to study acclimation. Acclimation was studied by limiting the availability of an essential nutrient iron, causing stress. Specifically, a screening method was developed to study the growth rate of wild type and mutated Chlamydomonas under normal and stressed conditions. This allows for a more focused understanding of the genes involved in acclimation. Mutants are tested in the screen, amplified if its result shows it is involvement in acclimation. The mutant is then identified to test its physiological and cellular functions.