Multidisciplinary research in photosynthesis: A case history based on the green alga Chlamydomonas

This article examines the contribution of a unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas to progress in photosynthetic research. The objective is to focus on the aspects of Chlamydomonas that have provided an advantage over other photosynthetic organisms in investigating photosynthesis. To do this we discuss several examples that demonstrate the progress from a genetic study to a multidisciplinary approach that probes higher levels of complexity within the organism. These examples include the function and molecular regulation of electron transport components between photosystem II and photosystem I, the molecular genetics of the herbicide binding protein of photosystem II, and several different studies that have derived from a search for rubisco (ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase) mutants in Chlamydomonas, including chloroplast ribosome function, the regulation of the large subunit of rubisco, and the interaction between photosynthetic electron transport and carbon metabolism.