In taxonomy

Alpha taxonomy

Alpha taxonomy is the discipline concerned with finding, describing and naming species of living or fossil organisms. This field is supported by institutions holding collections of these organisms, with relevant data, carefully curated: such institutes include natural history museums, herbaria and...

, Prasinococcus is a genus of algae

Algae

Algae are a large and diverse group of simple, typically autotrophic organisms, ranging from unicellular to multicellular forms, such as the giant kelps that grow to 65 meters in length. They are photosynthetic like plants, and "simple" because their tissues are not organized into the many...

, specifically of the Pycnococcaceae

Pycnococcaceae

In taxonomy, the Pycnococcaceae are a family of algae, specifically of the Pseudoscourfieldiales. The defining features of this family include the single invagination of the pyrenoid where the mitochondrial membrane fits into it and the "decapore" - a ring of 10 pores through the thick cell wall....

.

Discovery

Prasinococcus capsulatus

Prasinococcus capsulatus

In taxonomy, Prasinococcus capulatus is a species of algae, specifically of the Prasinococcus. The name "'capulatus'" coming from the alga's large capsule which surrounds the cell. This unicellular algal species was discovered in 1990 in the West Pacific Ocean and has characteristic reproduction...

, the only currently known member of this genus, was discovered in the West Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

 during a cruise by the research vessel Sohgen-maru in November-December 1990.

Morphology

Prasinococcus have a firm cell wall

Cell wall

The cell wall is the tough, usually flexible but sometimes fairly rigid layer that surrounds some types of cells. It is located outside the cell membrane and provides these cells with structural support and protection, and also acts as a filtering mechanism. A major function of the cell wall is to...

 lacking scales and also lack flagella. The mitochondrial lobe and chloroplast

Chloroplast

Chloroplasts are organelles found in plant cells and other eukaryotic organisms that conduct photosynthesis. Chloroplasts capture light energy to conserve free energy in the form of ATP and reduce NADP to NADPH through a complex set of processes called photosynthesis.Chloroplasts are green...

 outer membrane both protrude into the pyrenoid

Pyrenoid

In cell biology, pyrenoids are organelles, centers of carbon dioxide fixation within the chloroplasts of algae and hornworts. Pyrenoids are not membrane-bound, but specialized areas of the plastid that contain high levels of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase .RubisCO fixes carbon...

 matrix which is considered characteristic of the genus. The cell wall has a protruding circular collar which is surrounded by holes which penetrate the cell wall. Its method of asexual reproduction

Asexual reproduction

Asexual reproduction is a mode of reproduction by which offspring arise from a single parent, and inherit the genes of that parent only, it is reproduction which does not involve meiosis, ploidy reduction, or fertilization. A more stringent definition is agamogenesis which is reproduction without...

is also considered characteristic - after cell division one daughter cell remains within the original cell wall while the other is extruded.

Pigment composition

The pigments of Prasinococcus include chlorophylls a and b, prasinoxanthin, Mg 2, 4-diviriylphaeoporphyrin a5 monomethyl ester (Mg 2, 4-D) and 5, 6-epoxy-3, 3′-dihydroxy-5, 6, 7′, 8′-tetrahydro-β-ε-caroten-11′ and 19-olide (uriolide).

Scientific databases

• AlgaeBase

• AlgaTerra database

• Index Nominum Genericorum