From Steven Ball, Lille University of Science and Technology, March 1992, his strain 17

Phenotype: altered starch metabolism

This mutant, which was isolated in the 137c background, accumulates much less starch than wild type cells. ADP-glucose pyrophorphorylase is altered so that it is much less sensitive to activation by 3-phosphoglycerate.


Ball S, Marianne T, Dirick L, Fresnoy M, Delrue B, Decq A (1991) A Chlamydomonas reinhardtii low-starch mutant is defective for 3-phosphoglycerate activation and orthophosphate inhibition of ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase. Planta 185:17-26

From Steven Ball, Lille University of Science and Technology, March 1992, his strain 18B

Phenotype: altered starch metabolism

This mutant, which was isolated in the 137c background, is amylose-defective, and accumulates a modified amylopectin. The st2 mutants are analogous to waxy (amylose-deficient) endosperm mutants of higher plants.


Delrue B, Fontaine T, Routier F, Decq A, Wieruszeski JM, Van Den Koornhuyse N, Maddelein ML, Fournet B, Ball S (1992) Waxy Chlamydomonas reinhardtii: monocellular algal mutants defective in amylose biosynthesis and granule-bound starch synthase activity accumulate a structurally modified amylopectin. J Bacteriol 174:3612-3620

From Steven Ball, Lille University of Science and Technology, March 1992, his strain 25B

Phenotype: altered starch metabolism

This mutant, which was isolated in the 137c background, is amylose-defective, and accumulates a modified amylopectin. The st2 mutants are analogous to waxy (amylose-deficient) endosperm mutants of higher plants.


Delrue B, Fontaine T, Routier F, Decq A, Wieruszeski JM, Van Den Koornhuyse N, Maddelein ML, Fournet B, Ball S (1992) Waxy Chlamydomonas reinhardtii: monocellular algal mutants defective in amylose biosynthesis and granule-bound starch synthase activity accumulate a structurally modified amylopectin. J Bacteriol 174:3612-3620

From Steven Ball, Lille University of Science and Technology, March 1992, his strain B5

Phenotype: altered starch metabolism; requires acetate and p-aminobenzoic acid

This strain is amylose-defective, and accumulates a modified amylopectin. The st2 mutants are analogous to waxy (amylose-deficient) endosperm mutants of higher plants. Because of the ac14 and pab2 mutations, this strain requires acetate and para-amino-benzoic acid (for which yeast extract will suffice).


Delrue B, Fontaine T, Routier F, Decq A, Wieruszeski JM, Van Den Koornhuyse N, Maddelein ML, Fournet B, Ball S (1992) Waxy Chlamydomonas reinhardtii: monocellular algal mutants defective in amylose biosynthesis and granule-bound starch synthase activity accumulate a structurally modified amylopectin. J Bacteriol 174:3612-3620


  • Locus:
  • AC14, PAB2
  • Chromosome:
  • 1

From Steven Ball, Lille University of Science and Technology, March 1992, his strain B20

Phenotype: altered starch metabolism; requires acetate and p-aminobenzoic acid

This strain is amylose-defective, and accumulates a modified amylopectin. The st2 mutants are analogous to waxy (amylose-deficient) endosperm mutants of higher plants. Because of the pab2 and ac14 mutations, this strain requires acetate and para-amino-benzoic acid (for which yeast extract will suffice).


Delrue B, Fontaine T, Routier F, Decq A, Wieruszeski JM, Van Den Koornhuyse N, Maddelein ML, Fournet B, Ball S (1992) Waxy Chlamydomonas reinhardtii: monocellular algal mutants defective in amylose biosynthesis and granule-bound starch synthase activity accumulate a structurally modified amylopectin. J Bacteriol 174:3612-3620


  • Locus:
  • AC14, PAB2
  • Chromosome:
  • 1

From Robert Bloodgood, University of Virginia, April 1992

Phenotype: impaired motility

L-23 is a Chlamydomonas mutant obtained by MNNG mutagenesis of pf-18 followed by cell sorting.  It has totally lost binding of a monoclonal antibody to an N-linked carbohydrate epitope on FMG-1B, exhibits normal binding of a monoclonal antibody to a protein epitope on FMG-1B and exhibits greatly increased binding of concanavalin A. This suggests a glycosylation mutant that results in a high mannose form (instead of the normal complex carbohydrate form) at the many glycosylation sites on FMG-1B (the major flagellar membrane glycoprotein) as well on other glycoproteins. Unpublished preliminary data from a Spanish carbohydrate lab suggest that this strain has a mutation in a mannosidase enzyme.


Bloodgood RA, Salomonsky NL, Reinhart FD (1987) Use of carbohydrate probes in conjunction with fluorescence-activated cell sorting to select mutant cell lines of Chlamydomonas with defects in cell surface glycoproteins. Exp Cell Res 173:572-585

Bloodgood RA, Salomonsky NL (1989) Use of a novel Chlamydomonas mutant to demonstrate that flagellar glycoprotein movements are necessary for the expression of gliding motility. Cell Motil Cytoskeleton 13:1-8


  • Locus:
  • PF18, FMG1
  • Chromosome:
  • 2,9

From Laurens Mets, University of Chicago, April 1992

Phenotype: requires acetate

This strain, designated LM3-4D1C, is a segregant from a tetrad carrying the Ds521 CAB deficiency mutation described originally in Galloway and Mets (1989). Ds521 was originally isolated by FuDR/EMS mutagenesis of the chloroplast DCMU-resistant mutant Dr2 with selection for DCMU sensitivity. Ds521 has reduced chlorophyll per cell and a high chlorophyll a/b ratio compared to wild type cells, with loss of a large fraction of the chl a/b light-harvesting complex.


Galloway R, Mets L (1989) Positive selection for sensitivity of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii to Photosystem II-inhibiting herbicides. Biochim Biophys Acta 975:66-71

From Laurens Mets, University of Chicago, April 1992

Phenotype: antibiotic resistant (streptomycin)

This strain was derived by backcrossing a mt+ strain carrying the sr-u-sm2 streptomycin resistance mutation to a 137c- strain originally obtained by Mets from Levine. It has been used as the parent strain for deriving many additional mutants.

Please see CC-215 for more information on the sr-u-sm2 mutation.


  • Locus:
  • rps12
  • Chromosome:
  • chloroplast

From Laurens Mets, University of Chicago, April 1992

Phenotype: requires acetate

The A4d strain was derived from a cross between B1 (= CC-2694, which is no longer in the collection) and LM3-4D1c (= CC-2692). It carries the nuclear Ds521 CAB deficiency mutation and the B1 deletion mutation in the chloroplast psbA gene. It has been used extensively in studies of PSI by Mets and others.


Owens TG, Webb SP, Mets L, Alberte RS, Fleming GR (1989) Antenna structure and excitation dynamics in photosystem I. II. Studies with mutants of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii lacking photosystem II. Biophys J 56:95-106

Werst M, Jia Y, Mets L, Fleming GR (1992) Energy transfer and trapping in the photosystem I core antenna. A temperature study. Biophys J 61:868-878


  • Locus:
  • psbA
  • Chromosome:
  • chloroplast

From James Moroney, Louisiana State University, April 1992

Phenotype: altered CO2 assimilation

This strain requires 5% CO2 for growth on minimal medium. The cia2 mutation affects the CAH3 carbonic anhydrase gene.


Moroney JV, Tolbert NE, Sears BB (1986) Complementation analysis of the inorganic carbon concentrating mechanism of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Mol Gen Genet 204:199-203

From James Moroney, Louisiana State University, April 1992

Phenotype: altered CO2 assimilation

This strain requires 5% CO2 for growth on minimal medium. The cia3 mutation is in the CAH3 carbonic anhydrase gene, and is allelic to ca1 (CC-1219) and to cia4 (CC-2701).


Moroney JV, Tolbert NE, Sears BB (1986) Complementation analysis of the inorganic carbon concentrating mechanism of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Mol Gen Genet 204:199-203

Katzman GL, Carlson SJ, Marcus Y, Moroney JV, Togasaki RK (1994) Carbonic Anhydrase Activity in Isolated Chloroplasts of Wild-Type and High-CO2-Dependent Mutants of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii as Studied by a New Assay. Plant Physiol 105:1197-1202

**Van Hunnik E and Sültemeyer D (2002) A possible role for carbonic anhydrase in the lumen of chloroplast thylakoids in green algae. Funct. Plant Biol 29:243-249

Hanson DT, Franklin LA, Samuelsson G, Badger MR (2003) The Chlamydomonas reinhardtii cia3 mutant lacking a thylakoid lumen-localized carbonic anhydrase is limited by CO2 supply to rubisco and not photosystem II function in vivo. Plant Physiol 132:2267-2275

Duanmu D, Wang Y, Spalding MH (2009) Thylakoid lumen carbonic anhydrase (CAH3) mutation suppresses air-Dier phenotype of LCIB mutant in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Plant Physiol 149:929-937


  • Locus:
  • CAH3
  • Chromosome:
  • 9

From James Moroney, Louisiana State University, April 1992

Phenotype: altered CO2 assimilation

This strain requires 5% CO2 for growth on minimal medium. The cia4 mutation affects the CAH3 carbonic anhydrase gene, and is allelic to ca1 (CC-1219) and to cia3. Please see CC-2699 for more information on this locus.


  • Locus:
  • CAH3
  • Chromosome:
  • 9

From James Moroney, Louisiana State University, April 1992

Phenotype: altered CO2 assimilation

This strain requires 5% CO2 for growth on minimal medium. In contrast to other cia mutants, cia5 fails to synthesize any of the components of the CO2 concentrating system, including the periplasmic carbonic anhydrase, when switched to an environment low in CO2. This is a mutation in the CCM1 gene, which has been identified as the “master regulator” of the carbon concentrating mechanism in Chlamydomonas.


Moroney JV, Husic HD, Tolbert NE, Kitayama M, Manuel LJ, Togasaki RK (1989) Isolation and Characterization of a Mutant of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii Deficient in the CO(2) Concentrating Mechanism. Plant Physiol 89:897-903

Marek LF, Spalding MH (1991) Changes in Photorespiratory Enzyme Activity in Response to Limiting CO(2) in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Plant Physiol 97:420-425

Spalding MH, Winder TL, Anderson JC, Geraghty AM, Marek LF (1991) Changes in protein and gene expression during induction of the CO2-concentrating mechanism in wild-type and mutant Chlamydomonas. Can J Bot 69:1008-1016

Xiang Y, Zhang J, Weeks DP (2001) The Cia5 gene controls formation of the carbon concentrating mechanism in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 98:5341-5346

Fukuzawa H, Miura K, Ishizaki K, Kucho KI, Saito T, Kohinata T, Ohyama K (2001) Ccm1, a regulatory gene controlling the induction of a carbon-concentrating mechanism in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii by sensing CO2 availability. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 98:5347-5352


  • Locus:
  • CIA5 [CCM1]
  • Chromosome:
  • 2

Boynton-Gillham laboratory, Duke University

Phenotype: antibiotic resistant (erythromycin)

Derived by Scott Newman in the Boynton-Gillham laboratory, 1992. This strain was obtained by transformation of CC-744, a psbA deletion mutant, with plasmid P-262, a construct with a deletion in the intergenic region between psbA and the gene encoding 23S rRNA.


Newman SM, Harris EH, Johnson AM, Boynton JE, Gillham NW (1992) Nonrandom distribution of chloroplast recombination events in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii: evidence for a hotspot and an adjacent cold region. Genetics 132:413-429


  • Locus:
  • rrnL
  • Chromosome:
  • chloroplast

From Rene Matagne, University of Liege, April 1992

Phenotype: inhibitor resistant (cadmium)

The cadA and cadB mutations are unlinked. Both are partially dominant. The cadB mutation alone confers resistance intermediate between cadA and wild type.


Collard JM, Matagne RF (1990) Isolation and genetic analysis of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii strains resistant to cadmium. Appl Environ Microbiol 56:2051-2055

From Rene Matagne, University of Liege, April 1992

Phenotype: inhibitor resistant (cadmium)

The cadA and cadB mutations are unlinked. Both are partially dominant. The cadB mutation alone confers resistance intermediate between cadA and wild type.


Collard JM, Matagne RF (1990) Isolation and genetic analysis of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii strains resistant to cadmium. Appl Environ Microbiol 56:2051-2055

From Rene Matagne, University of Liege, April 1992

Phenotype: inhibitor resistant (cadmium)

The cadA and cadB mutations are unlinked. Both are partially dominant. The cadB mutation alone confers resistance intermediate between cadA and wild type.


Collard JM, Matagne RF (1990) Isolation and genetic analysis of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii strains resistant to cadmium. Appl Environ Microbiol 56:2051-2055

From A. Tremolieres, CNRS, Gif-sur-Yevette, May 1992

Phenotype: requires acetate

This is a non-photosynthetic mutant isolated by Garnier and colleagues. It is deficient in photosystem II, lacking some of the reaction center polypeptides, and also shows deficiency in cytochrome b-559.


Garnier J, Guyon D, Picaud A (1979) Characterization of new strains of non-photosynthetic mutants of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. I: fluorescence, photochemical activities, chlorophyllprotein complexes. Plant Cell Physiol 20:1013-1027

Maroc J, Garnier J (1979) Characterization of new strains of nonphotosynthetic mutants of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii II. Quinones and cytochromes b-559, b-563 and c-553 in twelve mutants having impaired Photosystem II function. Plant Cell Physiol. 20:1029-1040

Garnier J, Maroc J (1983) Physiol. Vegetale 21:361-365

Garnier J, Maroc J (1984) Chloroplast Proteins Related to Photosystem II in Chlamydomonas Reinhardtii: Mutants and Trypsin-Treated Chloroplast Particles. Adv. Photosyn. Res. 3:183-186

Maroc J, Guyon D, Gamier J (1983) Characterization of new strains of nonphotosynthetic mutants of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii III. Photosystem II-related thylakoid proteins in five mutants and double mutants. Plant Cell Physiol 24:1217-1230

Seras M, Garnier J, Trémoli`res A, Guyon D (1989) Lipid biosynthesis in cells of the wild type and of two photosynthetic mutants of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Plant Physiol Biochem 27:393–399

From A. Tremolieres, CNRS, Gif-sur-Yevette, May 1992

Phenotype: requires acetate

Fl-39 is a non-photosynthetic mutant originally isolated by Garnier and colleagues (please see CC-2753). Irraditaion of this strain produced the double mutant Fl 38 Pg28, which also lacks the photosynthetic reaction center protein CP 0.

From A. Tremolieres, CNRS, Gif-sur-Yevette, May 1992

Phenotype: requires acetate; chlorophyll b deficient

This mutant lacks chlorophyll b and a chlorophyll-binding protein of the photosynthetic reaction center.


Maroc J, Guyon D, Gamier J (1983) Characterization of new strains of nonphotosynthetic mutants of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii III. Photosystem II-related thylakoid proteins in five mutants and double mutants. Plant Cell Physiol 24:1217-1230

Garnier J, Maroc J (1984) Chloroplast Proteins Related to Photosystem II in Chlamydomonas Reinhardtii: Mutants and Trypsin-Treated Chloroplast Particles. Adv. Photosyn. Res. 3:183-186

From Alexander Chunayev, St. Petersburg State University, May 1992

Phenotype: chlorophyll deficient, yellow in the dark

This is a chlorophyll-deficient mutant, yellow when grown mixotrophically, also known as yel-27. The published literature is inconsistent on whether this mutation is in the nuclear or chloroplast genome.


Gyurján I, Yurina NP, Thurischeva MS, Odintsova MS (1979a) Altered chloroplast ribosomal proteins in a yellow mutant of Chlamydomonas reinhardii. Mol Gen Genet 170:203-211

Tugarinov et al. (1980) Sov Genet 16:1199-1206

Yurina et al. (1981) Sov Plant Physiol 28:117-121

Gyurjan et al. (1985) Photosynthetica 19:285-293

From Alexander Chunayev, St. Petersburg State University, May 1992

Phenotype: chlorophyll deficient, yellow in the dark

Also known as yel-76, this is a chlorophyll deficent mutant with a normal chl a/b ratio.


Gyurján I, Yurina NP, Turischeva MS, Odintsova MS, Alexandrova NN (1980) Protein deficient chloroplast ribosomes in a yellow mutant of Chlamydomonas reinhardii. Planta 147, 287-294

Yurina et al. (1981) Soviet Plant Physiol. 28:117-121

Scott Newman in Boynton-Gillham laboratory, Duke University, 1992

Phenotype: requires acetate; antibiotic resistant (spectinomycin, streptomycin)

This strain was obtained by co-transformation of CC-125 with P-183 (sr spr) and P-270, which is a BamHI-EcoRI fragment internal to the rbcL gene, with a Pst site replaced by insertion of a 0.48 kb fragment from the yeast plasmid YEp24.


Newman SM, Gillham NW, Harris EH, Johnson AM, Boynton JE (1991) Targeted disruption of chloroplast genes in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Mol Gen Genet 230:65-74


  • Locus:
  • rbcL, rrnS
  • Chromosome:
  • chloroplast

Amnon Lers in Boynton-Gillham laboratory, Duke University

This is transformant NP-5, from transformation of CC-125 with DNA from plasmid P-400 (no longer in the collection) containing a site-directed mutation (psbA-NP) in the C-terminal extension of the psbA gene. The mutation changes a Ser (UCA) to stop (UAA) codon in the C-terminal extension of the D1 protein, thus causing the cells to produce a mature D1 protein that requires no further processing. Lers et al. found that these transformants are indisinguishable from wild type cells in terms of photosynthetic performance and growth rate under CO2- and light-saturated photoautotrophic growth conditions.


Lers A, Heifetz PB, Boynton JE, Gillham NW, Osmond CB (1992) The carboxyl-terminal extension of the D1 protein of photosystem II is not required for optimal photosynthetic performance under CO2- and light-saturated growth conditions. J Biol Chem 267:17494-17497


  • Locus:
  • psbA
  • Chromosome:
  • chloroplast

Amnon Lers in Boynton-Gillham laboratory, Duke University

This is transformant NP-7 in Lers et al. 1992. The spectinomycin resistance mutation spr-u-1-6-2 was used to select transformants, and is probably still present in this strain.

For more information on the psbA-NP mutation, please see CC-2831.


Lers A, Heifetz PB, Boynton JE, Gillham NW, Osmond CB (1992) The carboxyl-terminal extension of the D1 protein of photosystem II is not required for optimal photosynthetic performance under CO2- and light-saturated growth conditions. J Biol Chem 267:17494-17497


  • Locus:
  • psbA
  • Chromosome:
  • chloroplast

Amnon Lers in Boynton-Gillham laboratory, Duke University

This is transformant NP-15 in Lers et al. 1992. The spectinomycin resistance mutation spr-u-1-6-2 was used to select transformants, and is probably still present in this strain.

For more information on the psbA-NP mutation, please see CC-2831.


Lers A, Heifetz PB, Boynton JE, Gillham NW, Osmond CB (1992) The carboxyl-terminal extension of the D1 protein of photosystem II is not required for optimal photosynthetic performance under CO2- and light-saturated growth conditions. J Biol Chem 267:17494-17497


  • Locus:
  • psbA
  • Chromosome:
  • chloroplast

Amnon Lers in Boynton-Gillham laboratory, Duke University

This is a site-directed mutation in a putative amino-terminal phosphorylation site in the psbA gene, the threonine residue at position 2 in the D1 protein sequence; the PAP-A mutation changes this Thr to Ala. This strain is isolate T2A2.


Heifetz PB, Lers A, Boynton JE, Gillham NW, Osmond B (1992) Photosynthetic consequences of specific chloroplast gene mutations affecting synthesis and function of the Photosystem II D1 protein. Murata N (ed) Research in Photosynthesis 3:417–420

Amnon Lers in Boynton-Gillham laboratory, Duke University

This is a site-directed mutation in a putative amino-terminal phosphorylation site in the psbA gene, the threonine residue at position 2 in the D1 protein sequence; the PAP-S mutation changes this Thr to Ser. This strain is isolate T2S1


Heifetz PB, Lers A, Boynton JE, Gillham NW, Osmond B (1992) Photosynthetic consequences of specific chloroplast gene mutations affecting synthesis and function of the Photosystem II D1 protein. Murata N (ed) Research in Photosynthesis 3:417–420

Amnon Lers in Boynton-Gillham laboratory, Duke University

This is a site-directed mutation in a putative amino-terminal phosphorylation site in the psbA gene, the threonine residue at position 2 in the D1 protein sequence; the PAP-S mutation changes this Thr to Ser. This strain is isolate T2S2.


Heifetz PB, Lers A, Boynton JE, Gillham NW, Osmond B (1992) Photosynthetic consequences of specific chloroplast gene mutations affecting synthesis and function of the Photosystem II D1 protein. Murata N (ed) Research in Photosynthesis 3:417–420

From Rogene Schnell, University of Minnesota, October 1992

Phenotype: requires acetate; antibiotic resistant (streptomycin)

This is the strain referred to by Schnell and Lefebvre as A55-c9. nit2-1 is a new spontaneous mutation (a Gulliver insertion) recovered in strain A55 (ac17 sr1). Schnell noted in her submission that the mutation is unstable but that she had always been able to recover nit- colonies from this strain.


Schnell RA, Lefebvre PA (1993) Isolation of the Chlamydomonas regulatory gene NIT2 by transposon tagging. Genetics 134:737-747


  • Locus:
  • AC17, NIT2, SR1
  • Chromosome:
  • 3,9