The effect of temperature on average speed of wild-type (CC-1690) and mutant strain (CC-3913) of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

The goal of this study was to examine the effects of temperature on the average speed of both wild-type (CC-1690) and mutant strain (CC-3913) of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii , a flagellated unicellular alga. Average speed of the wild-type and mutant C. reinhardtii were measured at 25 o C and 28.5 o C. Cell movements were filmed with DinoXcope camera attached to a compound microscope. Selected cell paths were calculated for their average speed using ImageJ with MTrackJ plugin. Data analysis (two-way ANOVA) indicated no statistical difference between the average speed (n=4) of wild-type and mutant C. reinhardtii ( p -value of 0.36). Furthermore, even though greater rate of movement was observed at higher temperature, the results were not statistically significant for C. reinhardtii ’s average speed ( p -value of 0.09). The difference between the effects of increased temperature on wild type compared with mutant was also not statistically significant ( p -value of 0.42). These findings can have broader implications in future studies regarding the movement pattern and physiological behaviour of C. reinhardtii .