This shorter episode is about a tiny, single-celled alga – Chlamydomonas reinhardtii – that’s managed to have a big impact. UC Berkeley plant biologist Sabeeha Merchant explains why she works on this alga, how researchers managed to sequence its genome, and what it has to teach us about other organisms – like plants. Links from this episodeEpisode TranscriptJGI@25: The Little Alga That CouldChlamydomonas reinhardtii on Phytozome and PhycoCosm JGI Blog Post: Green Algae Reveal One mRNA Encodes Many ProteinsJGI News Release: Green Alga Genome Project Catalogs Carbon Capture Machinery and Reveals Identity as Ancient Cousin of Land Plants and AnimalsThe original sequence: ScienceOur contact info:Twitter: @JGIEmail: jgi-comms at lbl dot govGenome Insider is a production of the Joint Genome Institute.