Ultrastructure of the fusion cell in Faucheocolax attenuata Setch. (Rhodophyta, Rhodymeniales)

The fusion cell in Faucheocolax attenuata Setch. is a highly lobed, thick-walled, multinucleate and irregularly shaped cell originating from the basal cell of the auxiliary cell branch. The formation of the fusion cell occurs by an incorporation of vegetative cells into the basal cell, after dissolution of septal plugs between these cell types. Thus the fusion cell is a syncytium containing only haploid nuclei, as well as unusual mitochondria and plastids. Mitochondria lack cristae and instead contain a tubular helical structure. Plastids are atypical with regard to thylakoid organization in red algae, because they lack the peripheral thylakoid and their photosynthetic thylakoids are aggregated to one side. In addition, they contain large osmiophilic bodies. Nuclear envelopes appear to produce large quantities of membrane cisternae. Floridean starch is absent and the cytoplasm contains few ribosomes. The plasma membrane is irregular and endoplasmic reticulum cisternae are situated parallel to it. Bundles of putative microfilaments were commonly found in nuclei and the cytoplasm. Structural evidence does not support any meristematic, nutritive or secretory functions previously ascribed to fusion cells in other genera.