Re-examination of ultrastructures of the stellate chloroplast organization in brown algae: Structure and development of pyrenoids

摘要

Some taxa of brown algae have a so-called 'stellate' chloroplast arrangement composed of multiple chloro-plasts arranged in a stellate configuration, or else a single chloroplast with radiating lobes. The fine structures of chloroplasts and pyrenoidshave been studied, but the details of their membrane configurations as well as pyrenoid ontogeny have not been well understood. The ultrastructure of the single stellate chloroplast in Splachnidium rugosum and Scytothamnus australis were re-examined in the present study, as well as the stellate arrangement of chloroplasts in Asteronema fer-ruginea and Asterocladon interjectum, using freeze-substitution fixation. It was confirmed that the chloroplast envelope invaginated into the pyrenoid in Splachnidiumrugosum, Scytothamnus australis and Asteronema ferruginea, but chloroplast endoplasmic reticulum (CER) remained on the surface of the chloroplast. The space between the invaginated chloroplast envelope and CER was filled with electron-dense material. InAsteronema ferruginea, CER surrounding each pyrenoid was closely appressed to the neighboring CER over the pyrenoids, so that the chloroplasts formed a stellate configuration; however, in the apical cells chloroplasts formed two or more loose groups, orwere completely dispersed. The pyrenoids of Asterocladon interjectum did not have any invagination of the chloroplast envelope, but a unique membranous sac surrounded the pyrenoid complex and occasionally other organelles (e.g. mitochondria). Immunolocalization of beta-l,3-glucans showed that the membranous sac in Asterocladon interjectum did not contain photosyn-thetic products such as chrysolaminaran. Observations in the dividing cells of Splachnidium rugosum and Scytothamnus australis indicated thatthe pyrenoid in the center of the chloroplast enlarged and divided into two before or during chloroplast division.