Uitrastructure of Cryptoglena pigra from Korea

Cryptoglena pigra Ehrenberg from Korea was a photosynthetic euglenoid alga, which had typical characteristics of the Euglenales. The ultrastructure examination of C. pigra revealed certain features which were distinctly photosynthetic euglenoid: one U-shaped chloroplast with thylakoid membranes; two paramylon grains appressed to both sides of the chloroplast; eyespot associated with the chloroplast but not part of it. Three flagellar roots were associated with the two basal bodies. The four-membered dorsal root arose from the dorsal body and extended anteriorly following the reservoir membrane. At the base of the reservoir the dorsal band was nucleated by the dorsal root and it ran anteriorly between the reservoir membrane and eyespot. The dorsal band was continued with the microtubules of the canal and the pellicle. The singlet dorsal microtubules at the transition level arranged into doublets by a successive linkage of the existing adjacent microtubules, and the doublets rearranged into the cytoskeletal microtubules that were continuous with four microtubules in pellicles. Finally, the sixteen ridges gave rise to the pellicular ridges. The five to six-membered ventral root extended anteriorly into a cytoplasmic pocket through the reservoir and lined a cytoplasmic pocket.