Apparent genetic recombination in a blue-green alga

Abstract

The blue-green algae (Myxophyceae) have generally been thought to be devoid of sexuality although no genetical evidence for or against this supposition seems to have been reported so far. This communication describes experimental results obtained with a unicellular blue-green alga, generally known as Anacystis nidulans (Myers' strain), which seem to indicate the occurrence of sexual or parasexual phenomena in this organism.