Stable nuclear transformation of Gonium pectorale

Background  

Green algae of the family Volvocaceae are a model lineage for studying the molecular evolution of multicellularity and cellular differentiation. The volvocine alga Gonium is intermediate in organizational complexity between its unicellular relative, Chlamydomonas, and its multicellular relatives with differentiated cell types, such as Volvox. Gonium pectorale consists of ~16 biflagellate cells arranged in a flat plate. The detailed molecular analysis of any species necessitates its accessibility to genetic manipulation, but, in volvocine algae, transformation procedures have so far only been established for Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and Volvox carteri.