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Rhodophyte Lab
Rhodophyte Lab
Objectives
1. Be able to explain the character changes necessary to evolve from a Cyanophora‐like organism to a primitive
red alga like Cyanidium.
2. Know and be able to explain the characters that define rhodophytes as well as the characters that define the
two most studied clades within rhodophytes; the bangiophytes and florideophytes.
3. Be able to explain, recognize and diagram the developmental and reproductive differences between
bangiophytes and florideophytes.
4. Be able to key out unknown marine red algae using your new marine seaweed key.
5. Know the vocabulary listed at the end of this section.
Background
The rhodophytes, or red algae, are the next group of plants that you will study in this course; the first
being the glaucophytes. There are about 5000 ‐ 6,000 species of rhodophytes and they occur in primarily marine
habitats although the most ancestral taxa (e.g. Cyanidium) are freshwater along with about 150 other species
found in streams and rivers. Most marine taxa grow attached to rock substratum either in the intertidal or subtidal
zone. Many red algae occur as epiphytes on other algae and still others are parasitic. These parasitic rhodophytes
are devoid of any pigmentation and only occur on particular rhodophyte hosts. As is the case for most organisms,
red algae peak in species richness around the tropics. However, these taxa are smaller and less conspicuous than
taxa in temperate waters. Red algae, which always lack flagella, demonstrate a wide variety of morphologies
including coccoid cells, unbranched or branched filaments (which can be uni‐, bi‐, or multiseriate), blades, sacs (i.e.
saccate), articulated, or crusts. Articulated red algae and some crusts are calcified (non‐calcified crusts are called
fleshy crusts). Calcified red algae are often referred to as corallines because of their very superficial similarity to
corals.
With respect to their evolution and current phylogenetic relationships, red algae first show up in the fossil record
0.75 to 1.2 bya during the Precambrian. These fossils have very simple multicellular constructions. Traditionally,
rhodophytes are often divided into bangiophytes and florideophytes. However, the combination of traditional
phenotypic characters along with gene data show that: 1) red algae are a monophyletic taxon, 2) cyanidiophytes
are the oldest group of red algae, 3) some traditional bangiophyte orders (Porphyridiales) are polyphyletic, and 4)
both phenotypic and gene data support the hypothesis that the younger Florideophyceae are monophyletic but
that some of the traditional orders within this clade are polyphyletic. In addition,
gene data have identified a couple of different algae, which on the basis of their
sequences, should be considered as bangiophyceans.
Rhodophyte Characters
2‐membrane (i.e. primary) chloroplast with phycobilisomes on
unstacked thylakoids
Usually red to dark red (because the phycobiliproteins phycoerythrin,
phycocyanin, and allophycocyanin mask the green chlorophyll a)
Floridean starch – not located in the chloroplast
No flagella, hence coccoid (also no basal bodies or centrioles)
The combination of closed mitosis, a persistent spindle, cytokinesis by
furrowing
Pit connections in some bangiophyceans, all florideophytes
A portion of a red algal cell, focusing on
Diplohaplontic sexual reproduction (iso‐ or heteromorphic) the chloroplast. (from Lee 1989)
Walls of cellulose microfibrils w/ amorphous sulfated
polysaccharides
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Glaucophytes: e.g. Cyanophora; Cyanidiophytes: e.g. Cyanidium, Cyanidioschyzon,
Galderia; Porphyridiophytes: e.g. Porphyridium; Bangiophytes: e.g. Bangia,
Porphyra; Florideophytes: Endocladia, Mazzaella, Mastocarpus, Polysiphonia
Rhodoplantae
Chloroplantae
= Viridiplantae
P.
O.
T.
N. S.
R.
Q.
M.
L.
K. A. Unicellular
B. Naked cells (no cell walls)
G. C. Flagellated
D. Heterotrophy by phagocytosis
J. E. Double membrane photosynthetic organelle
F. ? Haplontic Sexual Reproduction
I. G. Cyanelle
H. Loss of peptidoglycan from cyanelle
I. Loss of flagella
J. Gain of a cellulose wall, but loss of phagocytosis; still
mixotrophic via osmotrophy
H. K. Change to more phycoerythrin than phycocyanin and
allophycocyanin, therefore more of a red color
L. Multicellular
F. M. Diplohaplontic Sex; type of sex in the cyanidiophytes &
E. porphyridiophytes is unknown
D. N. Minimal zygote cloning
O. Pit plugs in sporophyte only
C.
B. P. Parenchymatous development (no plasmodesmatta)
A. Q. Pit plugs in both gametophyte & sporophyte
o R. Maximal zygote cloning (carposporophyte)
1 Endosymbiosis w/ cyanobacterium S. Tetrasporangium (the mieosporangium)
T. Pseudoparenchymatous development (uni‐ or multiaxial); no
plasmodesmatta
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The Bangiophytes & Florideophytes
Combinations of homologous characters define the primitive bangiophyceans whereas the monophyletic
florideophytes are typified by reproductive and developmental synapomorphies. Chloroplasts are maternally
inherited in bangiophytes and florideophytes, which means that chloroplast degenerate in the male gametes (i.e.
spermatia) but remain viable and pigmented in the female gametangium (i.e. carpogonium). In addition to being
important to the genetics of red algae, this feature will help you to distinguish mature male (clear) from mature
female (pigmented) areas of the thallus.
Bangiophyceans are diplohaplontic and gametophytes may be monoecious (see Porphyra reproduction below).
Following fertilization of the female egg nucleus in the carpogonium (i.e. the red algal female gametangium),
bangiophytes exhibit little to no amplification of their zygotes – i.e. only a few carpospores are produced for each
fertilization event. Furthermore, at least in some bangiophyceans like Bangia and Porphyra, the diploid sporophyte
(called the conchocelis) produces a sexual spore that is not the result of meiosis. Instead, the conchocelis releases
a diploid conchospore, which undergoes meiosis after attaching to the substratum (see Porphyra reproduction
below). Even more unusual is the fact that the four haploid cells produced by meiosis remain attached to each
other and grow to form one haploid individual. Thus, it has been demonstrated that one Porphyra (nori) sheet is
actually a genetic chimera! A consequence of this is that male and female gametes from the same thallus do not
necessarily have the same genotype.
In contrast to bangiophyceans, florideophytes are diplohaplontic but with a carposporophyte (= gonimocarp) and
tetrasporangia (see Polysiphonia reproduction below). The function of the carposporophyte is to clone the zygote,
thereby amplifying each successful fertilization event. The carposporophyte is comprised of a series of diploid
filaments that grow out of the diploid zygote. The apical cell of each of these filaments eventually differentiates
into a carposporangium, which releases one carpospore. Since 100’s of filament tips could grow out of one zygote,
each zygote can potentially produce 100’s of carpospores. The other unique character of florideophytes is the
tetrasporangium, which is a meiosporangium in which the meiospores (tetraspores) are held together in a tetrad
before being released.
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Porphyra (a bangiophyte) sexual and asexual reproduction (modified from Van Den Hoek et al. 1995)
Spermatangium
Spermatium
Conchos pores
Carpogonium
Conchosporangium
Oyster shell
Pyrenoid
Chloroplast
Carpospore
Conchocelis (sporophyte)
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Polysiphonia (a florideophyte) sexual reproduction (modified from Raven et al. 1992).
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The other major way to identify bangiophytes is by the way they develop. Bangiophytes may, if they are
multicellular, develop (i.e. grow) parenchymatously (see F & G in the below diagram). This is the type of
development you have seen in embryophytes where any cell, or localized groups of cells (i.e. meristems) can divide
my mitosis in any one of three dimensions. Some phycologists hold to a narrower view that, in order for cellular
communication to be more integrated, plasmodesmata must also be present for there to be real parenchymatous
development. Since no red algae have plasmodesmata, it can be argued that even bangiophytes do not have
parenchymatous development.
Diversity of bangiophyte forms
with F & G showing
parenchymatous development
(from Scagel et al. 1984)
A. Porphyridium
B. Asterocystis
C. Erythrotrichia with rhizoidal
holdfast
D. Erythrotrichia, branched
E. Bangia with rhizoids
F. Bangia, vegetative
G. Bangia, fertile
H. Erythrocladia, discoid species
I. Erythrocladia, transverse
section
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Types of florideophyte development (modified
Uniaxial pseudoparenchymatous
from Scagel et al. 1984)
Multiaxial pseudoparenchymatous
Filamentous medulla
Medulla of
isodiametri
c cells
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Exercises
Cyanidiophytes
We have no living material of Cyanidium and Glaucosphaera, so study the images on the benchtop and note the
following: their cyan rather than red balance of phycobiliproteins; they live in extreme freshwater habitats; that at
the level of the entire cell there are some large differences between these taxa and the presumed glaucophyte‐like
ancestor. What are those differences?
Porphyridiophytes
Study the micrograph of Porphyridium before you see the living material in the next exercise. Note the stellate
(star‐shaped) chloroplasts; the smooth pyrenoid made of RubisC/O (homologous to carboxysome); and that the
floridean starch granules are located outside of the chloroplast.
Examine the culture of the freshwater alga Porphyridium. Make sure that you have Kohler illumination properly
set up. Observe this alga under high‐dry (400X), then observe with oil. Locate the chloroplast and pyrenoid; the
latter may still be difficult to see under oil in which case be able to locate it in Bangia. The chloroplast of
Porphyridium is stellate in shape and parietal (i.e. out against the cell membrane) in position. Be sure to clean the
oil from the lens before proceeding with the rest of the laboratory.
Bangiophytes
Make a whole wet mount of the fresh Bangia (see Bangia on p. 6). The lower portion of the Bangia filament is
uniseriate and has rhizoids that attach the thallus to the rock substratum. The upper part of the filament is
multiseriate due to parenchymatous development. Locate the rhizoids as well as the uni‐ and multiseriate portions
of the Bangia filament. Also be able to identify the parenchymatous development that has formed the multiseriate
portion of the filament.
Observe the herbarium specimens or fresh material Porphyra and Smithora. They are sheets of only one
(monostromatic) or two (distromatic) cell layers depending upon the species. These simple sheets are the
pinnacles of complexity for bangiophyceans.
Carefully study the images of Porphyra (Pyropia) reproduction before you start working with the living material.
Be able to distinguish between vegetative (i.e. sterile) cells, carpospores (cloned zygotes) and spermatangial cells
(the spermatangium is the male gametangium in rhodophytes). Compare these images to the diagram of Porphyra
sexual reproduction found towards the beginning of this rhodophyte lab in order to understand what stage of the
sexual cycle you are viewing.
Make wet mounts showing surface views of the fresh material of Porphyra and locate vegetative cells,
carpospores and spermatangia. Note that some species of Porphyra are monoecious and some are dioecious.
Study the image of the sporophyte (= conchocelis) of Porphyra. Compare this image to the diagram of Porphyra
sexual reproduction found towards the beginning of this rhodophyte lab in order to understand what stage of the
sexual cycle you are viewing.
Florideophytes
Study the image of the chloroplasts and floridean starch granules found in Griffithsia pacifica. While the double
membrane chloroplast lacking peptidoglycan (red arrows) is a feature of all rhodophytes, it is easier to view in
florideophytes. Don’t mistake the girdling (encircling) thylakoid as a chloroplast membrane.
Study the micrograph and light images of pit connections (also called pit plugs) in florideophyte cell walls
before proceeding to the fresh material. Cytokinesis is incomplete in sporophytes of bangiophytes and in both
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gametophytes and sporophytes of florideophytes. The resulting hole in the crosswall is filled by a protein core and
then capped by various membrane layers, depending upon the florideophyte clade. This character is a rhodophyte
synapomorphy for almost all multicellular rhodophytes and so can be quite useful in letting you know that you are
viewing a red alga when other sources of information (e.g. reproductive, pigmentation) are lacking or misleading.
Be able to locate a pit connection in the fresh material of Callithamnion pikeanum; they are easier to find in
older, plasmolyzed cells.
Observe the herbarium specimens showing the variety of forms members of this class may have. Note that the
simplest members of this group are uniseriate filaments but most members have functional tissues.
Make a cross‐section of Endocladia muricata and determine the specific type of development (consult the
earlier diagrams on development). Since this is the first time in this course that you will be making a hand section,
follow the below steps to brush up on this important technique.
1. Place 1‐2 drops of seawater at one end of a microscope slide and place a fairly thick segment of an
Endocladia thallus at the other end of the slide.
2. Put the entire slide on top of some white paper so you can better see what you are doing.
3. Hold the thallus segment against the slide with your fingernail and make sure that the flesh of your
finger is not extending beyond your fingernail.
4. Make multiple transverse sections of the tissue using a very sharp razor blade. You are striving for
very thin sections. There are two tricks to this. Slice across and down the tissue, not straight down
on the tissue; the latter will just give you crushed sections. Secondly, cut wedges of tissue; start out
a bit thick at the beginning of your slice and end up very thin, maybe even too thin. Some part of
this wedge should give you the thickness you need for proper viewing. Make many sections.
5. Remove the thick sections with a tweezers or probe.
6. Push only the thinnest sections into the drop of water and proceed with your viewing.
Make a cross‐section through a Mazzaella blade and determine the type of development (consult the earlier
diagrams on development).
Also use your Mazzaella cross‐section to locate the three tissue layers that some of the more complex red algae
can demonstrate. The most common cell type of the epidermis is the chlorenchyma cell. Gland cells, trichomes
(i.e. hairs), and a host of reproductive cell types may also form in the epidermal tissue. The cortex includes the
small, spherical nonphotosynthetic cells just inside the cells that do have chloroplasts. The transition to the
medulla is usually not abrupt, but medullary cells are usually larger, and they can be long and thin, or isodiametric,
depending upon the taxon. Some people do not regard these layers as true tissues because they are produced by
pseudoparenchymatous development and cells lack plasmodesmatta. However, each layer does have a separate
function and often more than one cell type so we will consider them as tissue layers. The main function of the
epidermal tissue is photosynthesis whereas cortical and medullary tissues provides structural strength as well as
being the main location for the storage of floridean starch. Reproductive structures (e.g. tetrasporangia,
spermatangia, carpogonia, carposporophytes) may develop in any of the three tissues, and their exact locations
are often species or genus level characters.
Examine the prepared slides of monoecious Nemalion after you study the Nemalion sexual cycle below.
Spermatangia are evident as a cluster of very small non‐pigmented cells on short branchlets, which you should be
able to recognize. This slide is also being used to show you the rhodophyte female gametangium that is called a
carpogonium. This unicellular reproductive structure has a specialized elongation called a trichogyne. A male
gamete called a spermatium (not called a sperm because flagella are lacking) is released from a spermatangium
and fuses to the trichogyne. The latter disintegrates as soon as the spermatium nucleus migrates to the base of the
carpogonium that is inside the thallus. Be able to locate these cells.
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Nemalion sexual reproduction (modified from Van Den Hoek et al. 1995)
Trichogyne of
carpogonium
Trichogyne of
carpogonium
Carpospore
Carposporangium
Egg nucleus of
carpogonium
Study the images of the male and female gametangia of Polysiphonia. Compare these to the sexual cycle
diagram of Polysiphonia located at the beginning of this lab. Note the striking lack of chloroplasts in the mature
spermatangia; remember that chloroplasts are maternally inherited in rhodophytes. The carpogonium (female
gametangium) is one cell. The base of the carpogonium contains the egg nucleus and the extension of that base
which catches spermatia is called a trichogyne.
Study the images of the cystocarp and the tetrasporangium. Compare these to the sexual cycle diagram of
Polysiphonia located at the beginning of this lab. The cystocarp is a combination of the haploid pericarp from the
female gametophyte + the diploid carposporophyte (= gonimocarp). The components of the carposporophyte
include the zygote; filaments growing from the zygote; carposporangia; the carpospore (cloned zygote) in each
carposporangium. The tetrasporangium is the florideophyte meiosporangium. It contains four haploid meiospores,
known as tetraspores, but only 3 of the 4 tetraspores are visible at one time in this Polysiphonia‐type of
tetrasporangium.
Examine the prepared slides of Polysiphonia. This alga is diplohaplontic isomorphic and, unlike Nemalion and
some species of Porphyra, gametophytes are dioecious. Thus on these prepared slides of Polysiphonia the
gametophytes and sporophytes have the same morphology because the cycle is isomorphic, and gametophytes are
either male or female. Locate the male gametophyte with spermatangia (mistakenly called “antheridial”), the
cystocarps (i.e. haploid pericarp from female + diploid carposporophyte) on the female gametophyte, and
tetrasporangia on the sporophyte.
Use the fresh material of Polysiphonia and locate spermatangia, cystocarps, and tetrasporangia. No sectioning
is necessary.
Unlike Polysiphonia, Mastocarpus is an example of a rhodophyte with a heteromorphic sexual cycle (so is
Porphya). Take a piece of the fresh Mastocarpus papillatus female gametophyte that has at least one papilla
(raised protuberance) on it (see below). Make a section to locate the cystocarp in the medullary tissue and
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specifically note the carposporangia. Although this material is being presented to you as an example of
heteromorphic sexual reproduction, carpospores are actually asexually produced for this particular species over
much of its range.
Take a very small piece of the scraped up sporophyte crust and make a wet mount of it by placing a very small
piece in water, adding the cover slip, and gently applying pressure with a pencil erasure to squash the crust
filaments. Locate the tetrasporangia.
Mastocarpus female gametophyte and tetrasporophyte (modified from Van Den Hoek et al. 1995)
Tetrasporophyte cross section
Tetrasporangium
Papilla
Holdfast
See the prepared slide demonstrating monosporangia, which are the red algal version of asexual mitospores.
They are common in the bangiophytes and ancestral florideophytes.
Unknown Identification
Use your marine algal key to identify Endocladia muricata, or any of the other red algae you have already
worked with in this laboratory exercise.
Upon coming up with an ID, you should verify that you have made the correct identification. There are several ways
of doing this for red seaweeds:
The first is to consult our teaching collection in the upright cabinet in the back, right corner of SD141.
The second option is to compare your ID to pictures in Marine Algae of California (MAC) by Abbott and Hollenberg
(1976). However, although using the text and plates in MAC is a good idea, you need to be careful because many of
the species names in it are outdated. So before using MAC, use the cross‐reference material provided in your new
marine key to see if your taxon occurs in MAC as an older name. For example, if you identify something as E.
muricata in your new key, you can see from the cross‐reference material in this key that this taxon also occurs in
MAC as E. muricata. Now you can check out the text and plate information about E. muricata in MAC to verify your
identification. Let’s take a very different example. If your new key identified a red blade as Mazzaella splendens
and then you went to the cross‐reference material in the key, then you would find that this taxon used to be called
Iridaea cordata and that this is the name used in MAC. Thus to learn more about M. splendens you would have to
read about I. cordata in MAC.
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ID the real unknowns put out for you.
Vocabulary
Bangiophyte Saccate
Florideophyte Sheets
Cyanidiophyte Stellate chloroplast
Porphyridiophyte Uniaxial pseudoparenchymatous
Rhodophyte Uniseriate
Articulated coralline (i.e. calcified) Carpogonium (pl. carpogonia)
Blades Carposporangial
Chimera Carposporangium (pl. carposporangia)
Chlorenchyma Carpospore
Cortex Carposporophyte (gonimocarp)
Crust, coralline (i.e. calcified) Conchocelis
Crust, fleshy Conchospore
Dioecious Cystocarp
Distromatic Diplohaplontic (sporic) heteromorphic
Epidermis Diplohaplontic (sporic) isomorphic
Geniculum Diploid
Intergeniculum Gametophyte
Medulla Haploid
Monoecious Pericarp
Monostromatic Spermatangium
Multiaxial pseudoparenchymatous Spermatium
Papilla (pl. papillae) Sporophyte
Parasitic Tetrasporangium
Parenchymatous Tetraspore
Parietal chloroplast Tetrasporophyte
Pit plug (pit connection) Trichogyne
Pyrenoid Zygote
Rhizoid
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