COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE FINE STRUCTURE OF YOUNG AND ADULT INDIVIDUALS OF DUNALIELLA SALINA (POLYBLEPHARIDACEAE,CHLOROPHYCEAE) WITH EMPHASIS ON THE FLAGELLAR APPARATUS1

Individuals of Dunaliella salina (Dunal.) Teod. change their shape during ontogenesis. Here we describe the fine structure of this species with emphasis on distinctions between young and adult individuals. The cell coat is present at early stages of cell development and may be synthesized by vesicles of nuclear membrane-associated endoplasmic reticulum. Scanning electron microscopical observations show differences in the surface pattern of the cell coat in young and adult cells. The nucleus of young cells is more or less spherical, whereas that of adult cells is pyriform. The Golgi apparatus is positioned immediately under the basal bodies and consists of three dictyosomes in young cells and six to eight dictyosomes in adult cells. The flagellar apparatuses of young and adult cells have a 1/7 o'clock (i.e. clockwise) displacement of basal bodies and are grossly similar, but there are subtle differences between specific components. Two non-axonemic basal bodies (1′, 2′) appear in a plane perpendicular to that determined by the flagella-bearing basal bodies (1, 2). The cruciate microtubular rootlet system has a 4–2–4–2 alternation pattern. In adult cells, rhizoplasts emerge from each terminal body and run parallel to the four rootlets.