DIVISION

Cyanophyta

Pyrrophyta

Bacillariophyta

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
- blue-green algae
- only prokaryotes with plant-like, oxygen-
generating photosynthesis
- can be unicellular, filamentous
(Oscillatoria), colonial (Nostoc)
- some cells can specialized to fix nitrogen
when there is lack of available nitrogen
- gram-negative
- has mucilaginous matrix

- dinoflagellates
- most exclusively motile and unicellular
- can cause red tides
- can exist in 3 stages:
flagellated secretes toxins during
red tide
amoeboid
encysted
- Pfiesteria piscicida, Gymnodinium breve

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diatoms
siliceous cell walls: frustules
can be elongate (pennate diatoms) or
round (centric diatoms)

PREDOMINANT PIGMENT
Chlorophyll a (some can
grow heterotrophically in
the dark); phycobilins:
phycocyanin (responsible
for blue-green-ness) and
phycoerythrin

STORED FOOD
Can store extra
nitrogen
compounds as
cyanophycin
granules composed
of aspartic acid

MOVEMENT

REPRODUCTION
Asexual:
! Hormogone production
(filamentous, like
Oscillatoria)
! Akinetes (resistant
spores)
! Binary fission(??)

Chlorophyll a and c;
carotenoids; xanthophylls
in form of dinoxanthin
and peridinin

Starch or oil

Sexual:
! vegetative cells release
small, naked cells that act
as gametes

Chlorophyll a and c;
carotene; fucoxanthin

Chrysolaminarin

2 flagella; one long

flagella lies in
longitudinal groove
with distal end
responsible for
swimming. The
another one is flat
and ribbon-like that
lies within a
transverse groove
that encircles the
cell

Most are non-motile;
some move by
gliding over secreted
slime

Asexual:
! mitosis: progeny receives
inner frustule which results
to a smaller cell than the
parent cell
Sexual:
! When consequent mitosis
results to a critically small
size; sexual reproduction is
triggered: cells undergo
meiosis to produce 4, 8 or
16 sperm cells and 1 or 2
large egg cells

Chrysophyta

Euglenophyta

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Chlorophyta

Phaeophyta

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Golden algae
Biochemically similar to diatoms but
instead of frustules they have tiny,
siliceous scales
Can ingest bacteria by phagocytosis
Synura

euglenoids
most change shape as they move because
of pellicle
have eyespot, red to orange carotenoid-
containing photo-sensitive region

green algae
ancestors of modern plants
forms:
" unicellular: Chlamydomonas
" colonial: Volvox, Scenedesmus
" filamentous (held by middle
lamella): Spirogyra
" parenchymatous: Chara
" membranous: Ulva
" coenocytic or siphonous: Codium
alternation of generation:
# gametophyte (n)
# sporophyte (2n)

Chlorophyll a and c;
carotene; fucoxanthin

Chrysolaminarin

May be uniflagellate
or diflagellate; rarely
amoeboid motion

Primarily asexual through

biflagellated zoospores

Chlorophyll a and b

Paramylon

Have two flagella,

one long and one
short that does not
protrude outside the
cell

Asexually by cell division by

longitudinal cleavage

Chlorophyll a and b

Starch

Most flagellated at
some point in their
life; some non motile

All sporophytes produce spores

by meiosis can also produce
spores by mitosis (diploid;
grow into a new sporophyte in
a form of asexual reproduction).
Some algal gametophytes
produce spores by mitosis
(haploid; develop into new
gametophytes, also a form of
asexual reproduction)

brown algae
multicellular
usually have blades (leaf-like), stipe
(stem-like) and holdfast (root-like)
often have gas-filled floats to increase
buoyancy: air sacs
some have conceptacles
Sargassum, Ectocarpus, Padina

Chlorophyll a and c;
fucoxanthin

Laminarin,
mannitol or fats

Sexual reproduction:
! isogamy, anisogamy,
oogamy;
! conjugation (exchange of
genetic information)

- Reproduce sexually;
dominantly haploid
organisms and a portion as
diploid organisms; have
asexual zoospores and sexual
gametes that are
biflagellated.
- Unilocular sporangia and

Rhodophyta

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red algae
commonly composed of complex,
interwoven filaments
mostly multicellular; some unicellular
usually attach to rocks or solid materials
with an anchoring holdfast
agar, carrageenan, nori (Poryphyra)
central in building coral reefs
Gracilaria, Eucheuma

Chlorophyll a;
phycobilins: phycocyanin
and phycoerythrin
(responsible for
redness)

Floridean starch;
rhodophycean

plurilocular
sporangia/gametangia;
gametes are anisogamous
- Conceptacles release small
sperm cells or large egg cells

- Remarkably complex
reproduction (haha read
mauseth); alternation of
sexual and asexual stages; no
flagellated stage found