Prasinoderma coloniale

Prasinoderma coloniale
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Clade:	Archaeplastida
Clade:	Viridiplantae
Division:	Prasinodermophyta
Class:	Prasinodermophyceae
Order:	Prasinodermatales
Family:	Prasinodermataceae
Genus:	Prasinoderma
Species:	P. coloniale
Binomial name
Prasinoderma coloniale Hasegawa & Chihara, 1996

Prasinoderma coloniale is a species of green algae in the genus Prasinoderma, and the phylum Prasinodermophyta.¹ It played a key role in the discovery of a third major phylum of green plants, Prasinodermophyta, distinct from Chlorophyta and Streptophyta.² It is found in the Western Pacific Ocean.³

Prasinoderma coloniale forms loose, sticky colonies, unlike its solitary cousin P. singularis, the cells are spherical and non-flagellated. it is also shaped in a coccoid-like shape.⁴

Prasinoderma coloniale has an unusually high guanine-cytosine content of 69.8%.⁵ It also has a low rate of mutations through their genes.⁵ Their mitochondrial genome spans 54,546 bp and contains two trans-spliced group I introns in the large subunit rRNA gene, which is a rare feature among eukaryotes.⁶

It was discovered in the year 1996 by researchers T.Hasegawa and M. Chihara. It was first described as a new pelagic coccoid prasinophyte. In 2020, a study revealed that P. coloniale belonged to a separate phylum of green plants, the phylum diverged before the split between Chlorophyta and Streptophyta, making it extremely important for early plant evolution.¹

Research has found that P. coloniale has unique adaptations for nutrient poor environments and has a rare form of C4 like photosynthesis and carbon-concentrating mechanisms.¹