From Kazuo Nakamura, University of Lethbridge June 1993

Phenotype: light sensitive in the presence of methionine

This strain dies in bright light when grown on agar containing 300 micrograms/ml methionine. Egashira et al. reported that addition of exogenous catalase prevented this lethality and showed that the strain is deficient in catalase.


Takahama U, Egashira T, Nakamura K (1985) Photoinactivation of a Chlamydomonas mutant (NL-11) in the presence of methionine: roles of H2O2 and O2-. Photochem Photobiol 41:149-152

Egashira T, Takahama U, Nakamura K (1989) A Reduced Activity of Catalase as a Basis for Light Dependent Methionine Sensitivity of a Chlamydomonas reinhardtii Mutant. Plant Cell Physiol 30:1171-1175

From Steven Ball, Lille University of Science and Technology, June 1993, his B9

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

The st3 mutants have increased amylose content, and have diminished glycogen-primed soluble starch synthase activity. Because of the ac14 and pab2 mutations, this strain requires acetate and para-amino-benzoic acid (for which yeast extract will suffice).


Fontaine T, D'Hulst C, Maddelein ML, Routier F, Pépin TM, Decq A, Wieruszeski JM, Delrue B, Van den Koornhuyse N, Bossu JP, et al. (1993) Toward an understanding of the biogenesis of the starch granule. Evidence that Chlamydomonas soluble starch synthase II controls the synthesis of intermediate size glucans of amylopectin. J Biol Chem 268:16223-16230


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

From Steven Ball, Lille University of Science and Technology, June 1993, his I39

Phenotype: altered starch metabolism

The sta3 mutants have increased amylose content, and have diminished glycogen-primed soluble starch synthase activity.


Fontaine T, D'Hulst C, Maddelein ML, Routier F, Pépin TM, Decq A, Wieruszeski JM, Delrue B, Van den Koornhuyse N, Bossu JP, et al. (1993) Toward an understanding of the biogenesis of the starch granule. Evidence that Chlamydomonas soluble starch synthase II controls the synthesis of intermediate size glucans of amylopectin. J Biol Chem 268:16223-16230

Dauvillée D, Colleoni C, Shaw E, Mouille G, D'Hulst C, Morell M, Samuel MS, Bouchet B, Gallant DJ, Sinskey A, Ball S (1999) Novel, starch-like polysaccharides are synthesized by an unbound form of granule-bound starch synthase in glycogen-accumulating mutants of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Plant Physiol 119:321-329


  • Locus:
  • STA3 [SSS3]
  • Chromosome:
  • 6

From Steven Ball, Lille University of Science and Technology, June 1993, his I152

Phenotype: altered starch metabolism

The sta3 mutants have increased amylose content, and have diminished glycogen-primed soluble starch synthase activity. CC-4330 is another copy of the same strain.


Fontaine T, D'Hulst C, Maddelein ML, Routier F, Pépin TM, Decq A, Wieruszeski JM, Delrue B, Van den Koornhuyse N, Bossu JP, et al. (1993) Toward an understanding of the biogenesis of the starch granule. Evidence that Chlamydomonas soluble starch synthase II controls the synthesis of intermediate size glucans of amylopectin. J Biol Chem 268:16223-16230

Dauvillée D, Colleoni C, Shaw E, Mouille G, D'Hulst C, Morell M, Samuel MS, Bouchet B, Gallant DJ, Sinskey A, Ball S (1999) Novel, starch-like polysaccharides are synthesized by an unbound form of granule-bound starch synthase in glycogen-accumulating mutants of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Plant Physiol 119:321-329


  • Locus:
  • STA3 [SSS3]
  • Chromosome:
  • 6

From Steven Ball, Lille University of Science and Technology, June 1993, his I154

Phenotype: altered starch metabolism

The sta3 mutants have increased amylose content, and have diminished glycogen-primed soluble starch synthase activity. CC-4331 is another copy of the same strain.


Fontaine T, D'Hulst C, Maddelein ML, Routier F, Pépin TM, Decq A, Wieruszeski JM, Delrue B, Van den Koornhuyse N, Bossu JP, et al. (1993) Toward an understanding of the biogenesis of the starch granule. Evidence that Chlamydomonas soluble starch synthase II controls the synthesis of intermediate size glucans of amylopectin. J Biol Chem 268:16223-16230

Dauvillée D, Colleoni C, Shaw E, Mouille G, D'Hulst C, Morell M, Samuel MS, Bouchet B, Gallant DJ, Sinskey A, Ball S (1999) Novel, starch-like polysaccharides are synthesized by an unbound form of granule-bound starch synthase in glycogen-accumulating mutants of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Plant Physiol 119:321-329


  • Locus:
  • STA3 [SSS3]
  • Chromosome:
  • 6

From Ursula Goodenough, Washington University, July 1993

Phenotype: impaired flagellar autotomy

The adf1 mutation was isolated by Saito and Goodenough, as a second mutation in a stock of imp4. Quarmby has found that adf1 deflagellates in response to mastoparan, but not in response to acid, and that adf1 cells are defective in acid-activated Ca2+ influx.


Quarmby LM, Hartzell HC (1994) Two distinct, calcium-mediated, signal transduction pathways can trigger deflagellation in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. J Cell Biol 124:807-815

Crain RC, Yueh YG (1995) Phosphoinositide signalling in plant and algal responses to physiological stimuli. Biochem Soc Trans 23:853-856

Evans JH, Keller LR (1997) Calcium influx signals normal flagellar RNA induction following acid shock of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Plant Mol Biol 33:467-481

Evans JH and Keller LR (1997) Receptor-Mediated Calcium Influx in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. J Euk Microbiol 44:237-245

Finst RJ, Kim PJ, Quarmby LM (1998) Genetics of the deflagellation pathway in Chlamydomonas. Genetics 149:927-936


  • Locus:
  • ADF1
  • Chromosome:
  • 9

From Ursula Goodenough, Washington University, July 1993

Phenotype: impaired flagellar autotomy

For more information on adf1, please see CC-2919.


  • Locus:
  • ADF1
  • Chromosome:
  • 9

From Ursula Goodenough, Washington University, July 1993

Phenotype: does not mate

Gametes carrying the imp4 mutation agglutinate, but fusion is rare. This is isolate 9c from a cross of imp4 adf1 to wild type, and has the wild-type allele at the ADF1 locus (see CC-2919).


Goodenough UW, Hwang C, Martin H (1976) Isolation and genetic analysis of mutant strains of Chlamydomonas reinhardi defective in gametic differentiation. Genetics 82:169-186

From Ursula Goodenough, Washington University, July 1993

Phenotype: does not mate

Gametes carrying the imp4 mutation agglutinate, but fusion is rare. This is isolate 9a from a cross of imp4 adf1 to wild type, and has the wild-type allele at the ADF1 locus (see CC-2919).


Goodenough UW, Hwang C, Martin H (1976) Isolation and genetic analysis of mutant strains of Chlamydomonas reinhardi defective in gametic differentiation. Genetics 82:169-186

From Ursula Goodenough, Washington University, July 1993

Phenotype: does not mate

Gametes carrying the imp4 mutation agglutinate, but fusion is rare. This is isolate B22 from a cross of imp4 adf1 to wild type, and has the wild-type allele at the ADF1 locus (see CC-2919).


Goodenough UW, Hwang C, Martin H (1976) Isolation and genetic analysis of mutant strains of Chlamydomonas reinhardi defective in gametic differentiation. Genetics 82:169-186

From Ursula Goodenough, Washington University, July 1993

Phenotype: does not mate

Gametes carrying the imp4 mutation agglutinate, but fusion is rare. This is isolate A38 from a cross of imp4 adf1 to wild type, and has the wild-type allele at the ADF1 locus (see CC-2919).


Goodenough UW, Hwang C, Martin H (1976) Isolation and genetic analysis of mutant strains of Chlamydomonas reinhardi defective in gametic differentiation. Genetics 82:169-186

From Ursula Goodenough, Washington University, July 1993

Phenotype: impaired flagellar autotomy; wall deficient

For more information on cw18, see CC-850. For fa1, see CC-1370.


  • Locus:
  • FA1
  • Chromosome:
  • 6

From Ursula Goodenough, Washington University, July 1993

Phenotype: does not mate

The iso1 mutation is expressed only in minus gametes, but is not linked to the mating type locus. Cells in a culture of iso1 mutants differentiate either into minus or pseudo-plus cells, which can agglutinate with each another but do not fuse to form zygotes. This is an ARG7 insertional mutant obtained in CC-1861 arg7 mt- (now replaced in the collection by CC-3681), and is formally known as isolr:pARG7.8.


Campbell AM, Rayala HJ, Goodenough UW (1995) The iso1 gene of Chlamydomonas is involved in sex determination. Mol Biol Cell 6:87-95

Ferris PJ, Waffenschmidt S, Umen JG, Lin H, Lee JH, Ishida K, Kubo T, Lau J, Goodenough UW (2005) Plus and minus sexual agglutinins from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Plant Cell 17:597-615

Lee JH, Lin H, Joo S, Goodenough UW (2008) Early sexual origins of homeoprotein heterodimerization and evolution of the plant KNOX/BELL family. Cell 133:829-840

From P.A. Lefebvre, University of Minnesota, September 1993

Phenotype: requires acetate; antibiotic resistant (streptomycin)

This is Lefebvre’s strain A54-e18. The nit1-e18 mutation is a 5′ deletion of the NIT1 (or NIA1) nitrate reductase gene. This strain has the wild type allele at the NIT2 locus.

For more information on the other mutations present in this strain, see CC-530 (ac17) and CC-112 (sr1).


  • Locus:
  • AC17, NIT1
  • Chromosome:
  • 3,9

Elizabeth Harris, Chlamydomonas Genetics Center, Duke University, September 1993

Isolated from garden soil collected in Durham, North Carolina in May 1991 by Elizabeth Harris. This is isolate #6. CC-2932 is a mt+ strain from the same soil sample. Both are interfertile with the standard laboratory strains. Patrick Ferris reports (pers. comm.) that these strains lack the Gulliver transposon. This strain can grow on nitrate. Phylogenetic comparisons of this strain and other C. reinhardtii isolates have been made by Liss, Kirk, Beyser and Fabry, using introns in the Actin and Ypt 4 genes. See GenBank sequences U55901, U55902, and U70568.


Pröschold T, Harris EH, Coleman AW (2005) Portrait of a species: Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Genetics 170:1601-1610

Elizabeth Harris, Chlamydomonas Genetics Center, Duke University, September 1993

Isolated from garden soil collected in Durham, North Carolina in May 1991 by Elizabeth Harris. This is isolate #6. CC-2931 is a mt- strain from the same soil sample. Both are interfertile with the standard laboratory strains. Patrick Ferris reports (pers. comm.) that these strains lack the Gulliver transposon. This strain can grow on nitrate.Phylogenetic comparisons of this strain and other C. reinhardtii isolates have been made by Liss, Kirk, Beyser and Fabry, using introns in the Actin and Ypt 4 genes. See GenBank sequences U55901, U55902, and U70568.


Pröschold T, Harris EH, Coleman AW (2005) Portrait of a species: Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Genetics 170:1601-1610

From Graham Bell, McGill University, October 1993

This is Bell’s isolate LEE-1, from Quebec.


Sack L, Zeyl C, Bell G, Sharbel T, Reboud X, Bernhardt T, Koelewyn H (1994) Isolation of four new strains of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (Chlorophyta) from soil samples. J Phycol 30:770-773

Pröschold T, Harris EH, Coleman AW (2005) Portrait of a species: Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Genetics 170:1601-1610

From Graham Bell, McGill University, October 1993

This is Bell’s isolate LEE-2, from Quebec.


Sack L, Zeyl C, Bell G, Sharbel T, Reboud X, Bernhardt T, Koelewyn H (1994) Isolation of four new strains of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (Chlorophyta) from soil samples. J Phycol 30:770-773

From Graham Bell, McGill University, October 1993

This is Bell’s isolate LEE-3, from Quebec.


Sack L, Zeyl C, Bell G, Sharbel T, Reboud X, Bernhardt T, Koelewyn H (1994) Isolation of four new strains of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (Chlorophyta) from soil samples. J Phycol 30:770-773

From Graham Bell, McGill University, October 1993

This is Bell’s isolate LEE-4, from Quebec.


Sack L, Zeyl C, Bell G, Sharbel T, Reboud X, Bernhardt T, Koelewyn H (1994) Isolation of four new strains of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (Chlorophyta) from soil samples. J Phycol 30:770-773

Boynton-Gillham laboratory, Duke University

Phenotype: antibiotic resistant (cycloheximide)

From CC-1690 wild type 21 gr x CC-215 act1 sr-u-sm2. This strain can grow on nitrate.


  • Locus:
  • ACT1
  • Chromosome:
  • 2

Boynton-Gillham laboratory, Duke University

Phenotype: antibiotic resistant (cycloheximide); can grow on nitrate

From CC-1690 wild type 21 gr x CC-215 act1 sr-u-sm2. This strain can grow on nitrate.


  • Locus:
  • ACT1
  • Chromosome:
  • 2

Chlamydomonas Genetics Center, Duke University

Phenotype: requires acetate; antibiotic and inhibitor resistant (cycloheximide, methionine sulfoximine, neamine, pyrithiamine, streptomycin)

From CC-2929 ac17 nit1-e18 sr1 x CC-1144 act2 msr1 nr1-1 pyr1 sr1 (nit+) mt-

This is a multiply marked mapping strain in a nit1 background. This strain has the wild-type allele at the NIT2 locus.


  • Locus:
  • AC17, ACT2 [RPL36a], MSR1, NR1, NIT1, PYR1, SR1
  • Chromosome:
  • 1,3,4,6,8,9

Chlamydomonas Genetics Center, Duke University

Phenotype: requires acetate; antibiotic and inhibitor resistant (cycloheximide, methionine sulfoximine, neamine, pyrithiamine, streptomycin)

From CC-2929
ac17 nit1-e18 sr1 x CC-1144 act2 msr1 nr1-1 pyr1 sr1 (nit+)

This is a multiply marked mapping strain in a nit1 background. This strain has the wild-type allele at the NIT2 locus.


  • Locus:
  • AC17, ACT2 [RPL36a], MSR1, NR1, NIT1, PYR1, SR1
  • Chromosome:
  • 1,3,4,6,8,9

From Wei-Yeh Wang, University of Iowa, December 1993

This is a wild type (137c) strain that remains green in the dark.

From Patrick Ferris, Goodenough lab, Washington University, December 1993

Phenotype: requires arginine; short flagella

The arg9 mutants are deficient in acetylornithine aminotransferase and require arginine, citrulline or ornithine for growth. The ARG9 locus was mapped to a position about 20 cM centromere-proximal to the mating type locus by Ferris and Goodenough.

Note from Ferris sent with stock: “This died on plain TAP, confirming arg. It appears to have shorter flagella than wild type, but I’m never sure I can accurately judge this, so I checked the ‘bald in acetate-containing media’ phenotype of shf1 (which it has). The mt checks out also. This was constructed as follows. We got arg9-2 mt+ from Loppes, shf1-253 mt- from Jarvik [see CC-2348]. These were crossed to yield an arg9-2 shf-1 mt+ (since lost). This strain was crossed to CC-124 to create the arg9-2 shf-1 mt-.”


Loppes R, Heindricks R (1986) New arginine-requiring mutants in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.
Arch Microbiol 143:348-352

Ferris PJ, Goodenough UW (1994) The mating-type locus of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii contains highly rearranged DNA sequences. Cell 76:1135-1145


  • Locus:
  • ARG9, SHF1
  • Chromosome:
  • 6

From Patrick Ferris, Goodenough lab, Washington University, December 1993; originally from Matsuda

Phenotype: does not mate; requires arginine; antibiotic and inhitibor resistant (spectinomycin, methionine sulfoximine)

This is the original agl1 mutation induced in Matusda’s strain 7457B (arg2 spr-u-1-27-3 msr1). This mutation is an allele at the sex-linked SAD1 locus on linkage group VI. Mutants at this locus do not agglutinate with mt+ cells.


Matsuda Y, Saito T, Umemoto T, Tsubo Y (1988) Transmission patterns of chloroplast genes after polyethylene glycol-induced fusion of gametes in non-mating mutants of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii
Curr Genet 14:53-58


  • Locus:
  • ARG7, MSR1, AGL1 [SAD1], rrnS
  • Chromosome:
  • 1,6,chloroplast

From Patrick Ferris, Goodenough lab, Washington University, December 1993

Phenotype: requires nicotinamide; motility impaired

This strain, which was created by crossing CC-85 nic7 mt+ to a pf14 mt- stock, couples mutations on both arms of linkage group VI.


  • Locus:
  • NIC7, PF14 [RSP3]
  • Chromosome:
  • 6

From Bruce Kohorn, Duke University, January 1994

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

This is a site-directed mutation transformed into the signal sequence of the petA gene. CC-125 was co-transformed with P-183 (carrying sr-u-2-60 spr-u-1-6-2 er-u-37) and a plasmid carrying a site-directed mutation in the signal sequence for the petA gene. Transformants were selected for spectinomycin and streptomycin resistance; the er-u-37 marker was not tested.

The A-15* mutation introduces a TAG stop codon at nucleotides 43-45 of the petA gene. This strain does not grow on minimal medium.


Smith TA, Kohorn BD (1994) Mutations in a signal sequence for the thylakoid membrane identify multiple protein transport pathways and nuclear suppressors. J Cell Biol 126:365-374


  • Locus:
  • petA
  • Chromosome:
  • chloroplast

From Bruce Kohorn, Duke University, January 1994

Phenotype: antibiotic resistant (spectinomycin, streptomycin)

This is a site-directed mutation transformed into the signal sequence of the petA gene. CC-125 was co-transformed with P-183 (carrying sr-u-2-60 spr-u-1-6-2 er-u-37) and a plasmid carrying a site-directed mutation in the signal sequence for the petA gene. Transformants were selected for spectinomycin and streptomycin resistance; the er-u-37 marker was not tested.

The A12E mutation introduces a change to TGAG at nucleotides 33-36 of the petA gene. This strain can grow on minimal medium.


Smith TA, Kohorn BD (1994) Mutations in a signal sequence for the thylakoid membrane identify multiple protein transport pathways and nuclear suppressors. J Cell Biol 126:365-374


  • Locus:
  • petA
  • Chromosome:
  • chloroplast