Chlamydomonas reinhardtii has been a long standing model system in the biological sciences for studies of photosynthesis, flagellar development and other aspects of cell biology. Recently, as a fast-growing, photosynthetic eukaryote, Chlamydomonas has attracted a great deal of interest as a source of biomass and renewable energy. University of Minnesota-Twin Cities houses the Chlamydomonas Resource Center (CRC) and its utility is enhanced by the availability of the sequence of the nuclear, chloroplast and mitochondrial genomes. CRC has a large collection of mutants and a complete genetic map linked to the molecular map. The PI serves as the new Director of CRC and, in its 30th year of operation, this stock collection center will continue to act as the central repository to receive, catalogue, preserve and distribute wild type and mutant cultures of C. reinhardtii. The Center will continue to maintain and distribute molecular tools for Chlamydomonas research, including genomic and cDNA clones of Chlamydomonas nuclear, chloroplast and mitochondrial genes, and cDNA libraries. The Center will continue to distribute teaching kits, with reagents, strains and instructions for high school and beginning college biology class experiments. A web site [www.chlamy.org] will provide descriptions of all cultures in the collection, historical information and reference material on genetic loci and mutant alleles, genetic and molecular maps, and an extensive bibliography.
