Bryopsis kypnoides Lamouroux is a unique intertidal siphonous green alga whose extruded protoplasm can aggregate spontaneously in seawater to form numerous new cells that can develop into mature algal thalli. In this study, the photosynthetic responses during dehydration of both the thalli and protoplasts isolated from B. kypnoides were measured using a Dual-PAM （pulse amplitude modulation）-100 fluorometer. The results show that the photosynthetic rates of B. kypnoides thalli were maintained for an initial period, beyond which continued desiccation resulted in reduced rates of PSI and PSII. However, the photosynthetic performances of the isolated protoplasts dehydrated in air （CO2 concentration 600-700 mg/L） showed a slight increase of Y（II） at 20% water loss, but the rates decreased thereafter with declining water content. When protoplasts were dehydrated in CO2 deficient conditions （CO2 concentration 40-80 mg/L）, the values of Y（II） declined steadily with increased dehydration without an initial rise. These results indicated that the thalli and isolated protoplasts of this alga can utilize CO2 in ambient air effectively, and the photosynthetic performances of the isolated protoplasts were significantly different from that of the thalli during dehydration. Thus the protoplasts may be an excellent system for the study of stress tolerance.
Using shotgun sequencing data, the complete sequences of chloroplast 16S rRNA and tufA genes were acquired from native specimens of Bryopsis hypnoides (Qingdao, China). There are two group I introns in the 16S rRNA gene, which is structurally similar to that of Caulerpa sertularioides (Bryopsidales, Chlorophyta). The chloroplast-encoded tufA gene sequence is 1 230 bp long, very AT-rich (61.5%), and is similar to previously published 16S rRNA sequences of bryopsidinean algae. Phylogenetic analyses based on chloroplast 16S rRNA and tufA gene sequence data support previous hypotheses that the Bryopsidineae, Halimedineae, and Ostreobidineae are three distinct lineages. These results also confirmed the exclusion of Avrainvillea from the family Udoteaceae. Phylogenetic analyses inferred that the genus Bryopsis as sister to Derbesia; however, this clade lacked robust nodal support. Moreover, the phylogenetic tree inferred from rbcL GenBank sequences, combined with the geographical distributions of Bryopsis species, identified a strongly supportive clade for three differently distributed Asian Bryopsis species. The preliminary results suggesting that these organisms are of distinct regional endemism.
