CC-1373 C. smithii mt+ [SAG 54.72]
$30.00
From Sammlung von Algenkulturen (SAG), December 1982
This is the type strain for C. smithii as described by Hoshaw and Ettl, who reviewed the remains of G.M. Smith’s collection after his death. It was designated 136f by Smith, and came from a sample collected in 1945 in South Deerfield, Massachusetts. Smith had paired this with another strain from California (formerly CC-1372, which is no longer in the Chlamydomonas Resource Center collection), and had identified both as C. reinhardtii. Hoshaw and Ettl concluded that these strains differed sufficiently from the laboratory strain of C. reinhardtii on morphological criteria to warrant description as a new species.
Subsequent work has shown that CC-1373 is fully fertile with C. reinhardtii, but has significant sequence polymorphisms in nuclear, chloroplast and mitochondrial DNA. CC-1372 on the other hand appears to be an unrelated homothallic strain, probably C. culleus.
This strain can grow on nitrate.
We recommend CC-1373 as a polymorphic strain for comparison with C. reinhardtii. Its one drawback is that it sometimes forms “clumpy” cultures as a result of failure of the mother cell walls to lyse after vegetative division. This property may result in poor mating efficiency. In our experience, letting the gamete mixture sit for 24 hours or more usually produces enough release of autolysin to overcome the hatching defect.
For an alternative polymorphic strain for nuclear DNA, see CC-2290, the Minnesota mt- isolate described by Gross et al. Less well characterized, but also of possible utility, are CC-2931 and CC-2932, a pair of strains isolated in North Carolina.
Hoshaw R and Ettl H (1966) A Chlamydomonad interfertile with Chlamydomonas reinhardtip. J Phycol 2:93-96
Coleman AW, Mai JC (1997) Ribosomal DNA ITS-1 and ITS-2 sequence comparisons as a tool for predicting genetic relatedness. J Mol Evol 45:168-177
Pröschold T, Harris EH, Coleman AW (2005) Portrait of a species: Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Genetics 170:1601-1610