ULTRASTRUCTURAL ASPECTS OF THE SYMBIOSIS BETWEEN ALGAL CHLOROPLASTS AND ELYSIA VIRIDIS

Abstract

The ultrastructure of chloroplasts in the frond of Codium fragile and in symbiotic association with the digestive cells of Elysia viridis is described. In the hepatopancreas the chloroplasts are always bounded by a host membrane and contaminant algal cytoplasm may be attached to the chloroplast envelope. The possibility that‘butterfly’shaped chloroplasts and chloroplasts with membranous baffles represent different forms of chloroplast division is discussed. The presence of non‐Codium chloroplasts in the digestive cells of E. viridis is reported. Copyright © 1979, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved