Chlorella

Chlorella consists of small, rounded cells which are spherical, subspherical, or ellipsoidal, and may be surrounded by a layer of mucilage. The cells contain a single chloroplast which is parietal (lying against the inner side of the cell membrane), with a single pyrenoid that is surrounded by grains of starch. Reproduction Reproduction occurs by the formation of autospores; zoospores or gametes are not known to be produced in Chlorella. reported the occurrence of motile cells in Chlorella. Bendix (1964) also observed that Chlorella produces motile cells which might be gametes. These observations have an important bearing on the concept of the life cycle of Chlorella, which at present is considered to be strictly asexual in character. Asexual reproduction in Chlorella ellipsoides has been studied in detail and the following four phases have been observed during the asexual reproduction. • Growth phase: During this phase the cells grow in size by utilizing the photosynthetic products. • Ripening phase: In this phase the cells mature and prepare themselves for division. • Post ripening phase: During this phase, each mature cell divides twice either in dark or in light. The cells formed in dark are known as dark to light phase, cells again grow in size. • Division phase: During this phase the parent cell wall ruptures and unicells are released. Symbiosis A collection of unnamed Chlorella, only identified by strain names such as K10, serve as photosynthetic endosymbionts in the animal Hydra viridissima (more broadly, the whole "green hydra" clade) and the ciliate Pseudoblepharisma tenue. The genome of a strain called A99, attached to H. viridissima A99, was sequenced in 2018. Among all Chlorella with full genomes available at the time of sequencing, A99 is most similar to C. variabilis. On the other hand, the K10 strain appears closer to C. vulgaris on the basis of 18S rRNA and rbcL. == Taxonomy ==

Chlorella was first described by Martinus Beijerinck in 1890. Since then, over a hundred taxa have been described within the genus. However, biochemical and genomic data has revealed that many of these species were not closely related to each other, even being placed in a separate class Chlorophyceae. In other words, the "green ball" form of Chlorella appears to be a product of convergent evolution and not a natural taxon. Identifying Chlorella-like algae based on morphological features alone is generally not possible. Some strains of "Chlorella" used for food are incorrectly identified, or correspond to genera that were classified out of true Chlorella. For example, Heterochlorella luteoviridis is typically known as Chlorella luteoviridis which is no longer considered a valid name. == As a food source ==

When first harvested, Chlorella was suggested as an inexpensive protein supplement to the human diet. According to the American Cancer Society, "available scientific studies do not support its effectiveness for preventing or treating cancer or any other disease in humans". History Following global fears of an uncontrollable human population boom during the late 1940s and the early 1950s, Chlorella was seen as a new and promising primary food source and as a possible solution to the then-current world hunger crisis. Many people during this time thought hunger would be an overwhelming problem and saw Chlorella as a way to end this crisis by providing large amounts of high-quality food for a relatively low cost. Many institutions began to research the algae, including the Carnegie Institution, the Rockefeller Foundation, the NIH, UC Berkeley, the Atomic Energy Commission, and Stanford University. Following World War II, many Europeans were starving, and many Malthusians attributed this not only to the war, but also to the inability of the world to produce enough food to support the increasing population. According to a 1946 FAO report, the world would need to produce 25 to 35% more food in 1960 than in 1939 to keep up with the increasing population, while health improvements would require a 90 to 100% increase. which Science News Letter turned into "future populations of the world will be kept from starving by the production of improved or educated algae related to the green scum on ponds". The cover of the magazine also featured Arthur D. Little's Cambridge laboratory, which was a supposed future food factory. A few years later, the magazine published an article entitled "Tomorrow's Dinner", which stated, "There is no doubt in the mind of scientists that the farms of the future will actually be factories." Science Digest also reported, "common pond scum would soon become the world's most important agricultural crop." However, in the decades since those claims were made, algae have not been cultivated on that large of a scale. Current status Since the growing world food problem of the 1940s was solved by better crop efficiency and other advances in traditional agriculture, Chlorella has not seen the kind of public and scientific interest that it had in the 1940s. Chlorella has only a niche market for companies promoting it as a dietary supplement. After a decade of experimentation, studies showed that following exposure to sunlight, Chlorella captured just 2.5% of the solar energy, not much better than conventional crops. Chlorella, too, was found by scientists in the 1960s to be impossible for humans and other animals to digest in its natural state due to the tough cell walls encapsulating the nutrients, which presented further problems for its use in American food production. == Use in carbon dioxide reduction and oxygen production ==

In 1965, the Russian CELSS experiment BIOS-3 determined that 8 m2 of exposed Chlorella could remove carbon dioxide and replace oxygen within the sealed environment for a single human. The algae were grown in vats underneath artificial light. == Dietary supplement==

Chlorella is consumed as a dietary supplement. Some manufacturers of Chlorella products have falsely asserted that it has health benefits, including an ability to treat cancer, The United States Food and Drug Administration has issued warning letters to supplement companies for falsely advertising health benefits of consuming chlorella products, such as one company in October 2020. There is some support from animal studies of chlorella's ability to detoxify insecticides. Chlorella protothecoides accelerated the detoxification of rats poisoned with chlordecone, a persistent insecticide, decreasing the half-life of the toxin from 40 to 19 days. The ingested algae passed through the gastrointestinal tract unharmed, interrupted the enteric recirculation of the persistent insecticide, and subsequently eliminated the bound chlordecone with the feces. == Health concerns ==

A 2002 study showed that Chlorella cell walls contain lipopolysaccharides, endotoxins found in Gram-negative bacteria that affect the immune system and may cause inflammation. However, more recent studies have found that the lipopolysaccharides in organisms other than Gram-negative bacteria, for example in cyanobacteria, are considerably different from the lipopolysaccharides in Gram-negative bacteria. == See also ==