Algae Anatomy, Biochemistry, and Biotechnology

30 Algae: Anatomy, Biochemistry, and Biotechnology
FIGURE 1.45 Filament of Klebsormidium sp. FIGURE 1.46 Thallus of Nitella sp.
Endosymbiotic process produced nested cellular compartments one inside the other, which can give
information about the evolutionary history of the algae containing them.
Cyanobacteria evolved more than 2.8 billion years ago and have played fundamental roles in
driving much of the ocean carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen fluxes from that time to present. The evolution
of cyanobacteria was a major turning point in biogeochemistry of Earth. Prior to the
FIGURE 1.47 Portion of the thallus of Acetabularia sp.