Chlorella

chlorella

Any green algae of the genus Chlorella, found in fresh or salt water and in soil. They have a cup-shaped chloroplast. Chlorellas are used often in studies of photosynthesis, in mass cultivation experiments, and for purifying sewage wastes. Because they multiply rapidly and are rich in proteins and in B-complex vitamins, they have been studied as a potential food product for humans both on Earth and in outer space. Chlorella farms, closed systems that provide humans with food, water, and oxygen, have been established in the U.S., Japan, The Netherlands, Germany, and Israel.

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Chlorella 

a genus of microscopic unicellular green algae of the class Protococcophyceae. The cells, which are spherical or ellipsoid and contained in a cellulose envelope, may have one parietal chloroplast with a pyrenoid or no chloroplast and one nucleus. The organisms store starch and oil. They reproduce by means of autospores. The USSR has about ten species, which are distributed throughout the country. They are cultivated on a wide scale as a possible source of food and fodder, for the biological purification of sewage, and for the regeneration of air in closed ecosystems, for example, in spaceships and submarines.

REFERENCES

Muzafarov, A. M., T. T. Taubaev, and R. A. Seliametov. Khlorella i ee ispol’zovanie v zhivotnovodstve. Tashkent, 1974.
Andreeva, V. M. Rod Chlorella: Morfologiia, sistematika, printsipy klassifikatsii. Leningrad, 1975.
Fott, B., and M. Nováková. “A Monograph of the Genus Chlorella: The Freshwater Species.” In Studies in Phycology. Prague, 1969.