= Chlamydomonas reinhardtii
{c}
<Chlamydomonas reinhardtii> is a unicellular green member of the <algae> used as a <model organism> for <photosynthesis> and for the structure and function of eukaryotic <flagella>. A typical motile vegetative cell has two anterior flagella, a large cup-shaped <chloroplast> and a light-sensing <eyespot>. These features bring propulsion, light sensing and photosynthesis together in one experimentally tractable cell.<The Chlamydomonas Genome Reveals the Evolution of Key Animal and Plant Functions by Sabeeha S. Merchant and others>[Abstract and Figure 1]{ref}
Its flagella contain the same basic <microtubule> machinery as motile <cilia> in animals. This is an evolutionary relationship between organelles; bacterial flagella use a different construction. In the genome study published in 2007, researchers sequenced its nuclear <genome> and compared predicted <proteins> across organisms with different cellular capabilities. Genes shared by organisms with flagella, but absent from comparison organisms lacking them, supplied candidates for flagellar assembly and function. Comparisons with proteins experimentally found in flagella helped test those candidates.<The Chlamydomonas Genome Reveals the Evolution of Key Animal and Plant Functions by Sabeeha S. Merchant and others>[Comparative genomics and flagellar components]{ref}
A photosynthetic alga can therefore illuminate defects in human <cilia>, while also providing a system for studying <chloroplast> biology.
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