Both plant and animal at the same time, the characteristics of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii have raised the curiosity of scientists. Some hundred or so of them participated in the deciphering of this little green alga’s genome. Among them, Pierre Cardol and Marc Hanikenne. The results were published in Science magazine (1). Valuable genetic data for future applications in medicine and biotechnologies.

“Chlamydomonas reinhardtii”: the name may sound like Chinese, and yet, this organism plays a key role in understanding the language of genetics.
To understand complex organisms, such as man, it is essential to understand the simplest ones first. And this is something the world of science discovered a long time ago. This is why Chlamydomonas reinhardtii attracted its attention. This small green alga, measuring a hundredth of a millimetre, i.e. a diameter 10 times smaller than that of a hair, has been the subject of international research. More than a hundred researchers participated in deciphering the genome of this being composed of a single cell! The sequence of its genome, i.e. the succession of basic pairs that make up its DNA, has been known since 2003-2004. However, we still needed to determine the genes that composed it and their function. This gargantuan task was made possible thanks to the contribution of specialised laboratories worldwide. Each one was entrusted with the mission of identifying the genes involved in its own area of research. It was for this reason that two researchers from the University of Liège were approached:Marc Hanikenne, FNRS head of research in Plant Cell Biology (Prof. P. Motte), et Pierre Cardol, chargé de recherche FNRS head of research in Plant Biochemistry (Dr. F. Franck) and Genetics of Microorganisms (Prof. C. Remacle).

(1) Merchant SS, et al., The Chlamydomonas genome reveals the evolution of key animal and plant functions. in Science, 2007 Oct 12;318(5848):245-50.