Investigation of the light dependency of gene of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii using Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction

Esra Ozturk1, Atakan Sukatar1, and Zeki Topcu2

1) Department of Biology, Faculty of Science; 2) Department of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Ege University, Izmir, Turkey

Chlamydomonas reinhardii is a unicellular green alga with a genome size of 121 Mb. Their life cycle consists of dark and light periods, which were previously reported to affect their growth rate. In this study, we investigated the expression of Chlamyopsin-5 sensory rhodopsin (COP5) gene at mRNA level. COP5 is a member of Chlamyopsin (COP) genes family, spaning a 4326 bp coding region. Like the OPSIN family of higher eukaryotes, its protein product, COP5, is functional in light absorbtion. We employed Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR), which is known to be sensitive and powerful for detection and amplification of low levels of mRNA expression. Our results are discussed in relation to the mechansitic aspects of the COP5 expression in response to environemental stimulus as well as their possible interaction partners.

e-mail address of presenting author: esraozturk@mail.ege.edu.tr

web site: www.ege.edu.tr