Ostreococcus tauri has been described as the smallest
free-living eukaryote thusfar described and referred to as a
picophytoplankton. Cells are roughly 1 μm and contain a signal
chloroplast, mitochondrion, nucleus and Golgi apparatus. The cells
also lack a flagella and cell wall.
The algae has become a model for researchers, who are particularly
interested in the algae as a model for eukaryotic genome evolution.
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