Heimann, Kirsten, and Katsaros, Christos (2009) Algal cell biology and genomics. Botanica Marina, 52. pp. 93-94.

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Abstract

Since research in the plant kingdom began, the extraordinary diversity of algal morphology and cell chemistry has fascinated researchers and made algae a precious source of model materials for basic research. Chemistry focused research dealt at length (and in detail) with the various combinations of pigments, wall polysaccharides and storage products, and most phylogenetic schemes for the algae have been based to varying degrees on this information. Structurally-focused research by F.E. Fritsch (1935) concisely summarized gross morphological and cytological differences and similarities between algal classes at the light microscopical level, long before the electron microscope had been used to examine algae.

Later, J.D. Dodge (1973) brought together in his book The fine structure of algal cells information gathered since the application of the electron microscope to the study of algal cells. In the preface of this edition he noted that research on fine structure was advancing in a geometric progression, with numbers of published papers starting with two in 1952, reaching 20 in 1962 and 80 in 1972. The decade between 1970 and 1980 was considered by F. Round (1984) as the The age of ultrastructure, with many of these fine structural studies used as the main tool for studying algal systematics and evolution.

Since that time, research in the field of algal cell biology has extended in all dimensions, i.e., biochemistry, physiology, taxonomy and molecular phylogeny, as well as biotechnology. The tremendous progress in research during the last decades of the 20th century made biology the most important science of the 21st century. Much of this progress arose out of specialized studies that provided deep insights into the structural and functional organization of biological systems.

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