Cryptomonas


Ultrastructure

Bipartite tubular hairs are present on at least one of the two flagella of swimming Cryptomonas cells.
Cryptomonas cells have a single reticulate mitochondrion with flattened cristae. Plastids have paired thylakoid membranes, and are surrounded by a thin layer of periplastidial cytoplasm.

The nucleomorph, the vestigial nucleus of the endosymbiont that contributed the plastid,resides in the periplastidial compartment. Plastid, periplastidial cytoplasm and nucleomorph are separated from the rest of the cell by a membrane-bound sac, or "chloroplast endoplasmic reticulum".

The cytoskeleton is based on a complex, asymmetrical array of four or five microtubular roots arising from two flagellar bases.


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