Photosynthetic Life

Syllabus -Fall 1998

I: Introduction to Photosynthesis

Week 1: 8/31

• Review of the biochemistry of photosynthesis
• The shape of the Tree of Life as measured by SSU rRNA
  • Part I - Eukaryotes
  • Part II - Prokaryotes

II: Anoxygenic Photosynthetetic Bacteria

Week 2: 9/7

Holiday: Monday 9/7/98

• Tree of Life (continued)
• Proteobacteria
  • The relationship between physiology and ecological niche

Week 3: 9/14

First homework assignement due Monday 9/14

• Green Sulfur Bacteria
• Green Nonsulfur Bacteria
• Heliobacteria

III: Cyanobacteria and Plastids

Week 4: 9/21

• Anoxygenic photosynthesis in nature
  • Phototroph layering in stratified lakes
  • Life on a mud flat
  • Phototrophs in extreme environments
• Cyanobacteria
  • "Prochlorophytes" and variation in cyanobacterial pigmentation.

Week 5: 9/28

• Carbon fixation in prokaryotes
• Eutrophication and nuisance organisms in the freshwater environment

IV: Eukaryotes - Glaucocystophyta and Rhodophyta

Week 6: 10/5

Second homework assignment due Monday, 10/5

• The Endosymbiotic Origin of Plastids
  • Three major lineages of primary plastids
  • Glaucocystophyta, Rhodophyta, Chlorophyta
  • How many symbiotic events?

Week 7: 10/12

• The Endosymbiotic Origin of Plastids (continued)
• Exam Review

Midterm Exam: Friday October 16

V: Eukaryotes - Taxa with secondary plastids derived from red algae

Week 8: 10/19

• Glaucocystophyta
  • Plastids with cell wall
• Rhodophyta
  • Alternation of generations as a response to the loss of flagella
  • Parasitism in red algae -- cytosolic hijacking

Week 9: 10/26

• Cryptomonads
  • The ultrastructure of secondary endosymbiosis
• Photosynthetic organisms in the fossil record
  • The early evolution of life
  • The transition to an oxidizing atmosphere

Week 10: 11/2

• Haptophyta (prymnesiophytes)
• Heterokonts
  • Chrysophyceae and kin

Week 11: 11/9

Third homework assignment due Monday 11/9

• Heterokonts (continued)
  • Xanthophyceae
  • Eustigmatophyceae
  • Bacillariophyta (Diatoms)
  • Phaeophyta (Brown Algae)
    • Adaptation to the intertidal environment

Week 12: 11/16

• Heterokonts (continued)
  • Bacillariophyta (Diatoms)
  • Phaeophyta (Brown Algae)
    • Adaptation to the intertidal environment

Week 13: 11/23

Fourth homework assignment due 11/23

Thanksgiving Holiday 11/27

• Phytoplankton Ecology
• Algae in the open ocean

Week 14: 11/30

• Dinoflagellates
• Apicomplexa - nonphotosynthetic plastids in parasites
  • Toxin-forming algae (including Pfiesteria)
  • Feeding mechanisms in mixotrophic organism

VI: Eukaryotes - Taxa with green plastids

Chlorophyta
• Micromonadophyceae
• Ulvophyceae
• Pleurastrophyceae
• Chlorophyceae
• Charophyceae
• The evolution of cell division
• Algae as model systems
• Algae in biotechnology

Week 15: 12/7

• Taxa with secondary plastids from green algae
  • Chlorarachniophyta
  • Euglenophyta
• The molecular biology of secondary endosymbiosis
• Molecular traffic within the cell
• Molecular systematics of the eukaryotes revisited
  • Major Crown Group tax

VII: Land Plants: the Drier Algae

• Charophyceae sensu Mattox and Stewart
• The transition to a terrestrial flora
• Embryophytes - green algae adapted to life on land
• Alternation of generations
• Structural adaptations
• Biochemical adaptations

Final Exam: 12/17