The conjugating algae, an almost exclusively freshwater and extraordinarily diverse group of streptophyte green algae, are referred to a class generally known as the Conjugatophyceae in Central Europe and the Zygnematophyceae elsewhere in the world. Conjugatophyceae is widely considered to be a descriptive name and Zygnematophyceae ('Zygnemophyceae') a typified name. However, both are typified names and Conjugatophyceae Engler ('Conjugatae') is the earlier name. Additionally, Zygnemophyceae Round is currently an invalid name and is validated here as Zygnematophyceae Round ex Guiry. The names of orders, families and genera for conjugating green algae are reviewed. For many years these algae were included in the 'Conjugatae', initially used as the equivalent of an order. The earliest use of the name Zygnematales appears to be by the American phycologist Charles Edwin Bessey (1845-1915), and it was he who first formally redistributed all conjugating algae from the 'Conjugatae' to the orders Zygnematales and the Desmidiales. The family Closteriaceae Bessey, currently encompassing Closterium and Spinoclosterium, is illegitimate as it was superfluous when first proposed, and its legitimization is herein proposed by nomenclatural conservation to facilitate use of the name. The genus Debarya Wittrock, 1872 is shown to be illegitimate as it is a later homonym of Debarya Schulzer, 1866 (Ascomycota), and the substitute genus name Transeauina Guiry is proposed together with appropriate combinations for 13 species currently assigned to the genus Debarya Wittrock. The relationships between Mougeotia, Mougeotiopsis, Mougeotiella, and Transeauina require further resolution, as do many of the other genera referred to the Conjugatophyceae. Type species are designated for genera for which no types were formally selected previously. The number of currently described species of conjugating green algae in AlgaeBase is about 3,500, comprising about 10% of all algal species, with about one third of species referred to the Zygnematales and two-thirds to the Desmidiales. A corresponding 10% of all algal names at the species level and below have been applied to conjugating algae, although a large proportion of these are at the infraspecific level.

This review provides a comprehensive summary of the PCR primers and profiles currently in use in our laboratory for red algal DNA barcoding and phylogenetic research. While work focuses on florideophyte taxa, many of the markers have been applied successfully to the Bangiales, as well as other lineages previously assigned to the Bangiophyceae sensu lato. All of the primers currently in use with their respective amplification profiles and strategies are provided, which can include full fragment, overlapping fragments and what might best be called "informed overlapping fragments", i.e., a fragment for a marker is amplified and sequenced for a taxon and those sequence data are then used to identify the best primers to amplify the remaining fragment(s) for that marker. We extend this strategy for the more variable markers with sequence from the external PCR primers used to "inform" the selection of internal sequencing primers. This summary will hopefully serve as a useful resource to systematists in the red algal community.

In preparing a bibliographic check-list on freshwater red algae of India, we noted that nomenclatural changes are necessary for nine taxa currently placed in Acrochaetium-Audouinella-Chantransia complex and Batrachospermum sensu lato. These are Audouinella desikacharyi nom. nov., A. keralayensis (Jose & Patel) comb. nov., Kumanoa balakrishnanii (Chaugule) comb. nov., K. dasyphylla (Skuja ex Balakrishnan & Chaugule) comb. nov., K. iyengarii (Skuja ex Balakrishnan & Chaugule) comb. nov., K. kylinii (Balakrishnan & Chaugule) comb. nov., K. mahabaleshwarense (Balakrishnan & Chaugule) comb. nov., K. umamaheswararaoi (Baluswami & Babu) comb. nov., and K. zeylanica (Skuja ex Balakrishnan & Chaugule) comb. nov. All the above-mentioned species, excepting Kumanoa zeylanica, appear to be endemic to India, since no other records are known outside India.

Actinotrichia is a calcified galaxauracean red algal genus with temperate and tropical distributions in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Morphological characteristics, along with rbcL and cox1 sequences, were analyzed from specimens collected in the western Pacific and the Indian Oceans. Both rbcL and cox1 data confirmed the occurrence of A. fragilis, A. robusta, and Actinotrichia sp. in this region. The presence of A. fragilis was verified in tropical Indo-Pacific and temperate northeast Asian waters and was characterized by high genetic diversity. Although A. robusta commonly occurs in the East China Sea, we confirmed its presence on rocks and crustose algae in the subtidal zone of three islands in the Andaman Sea. Actinotrichia sp. was similar to A. calcea in morphology and distribution, but with sufficiently different sequences, thus, additional sampling over the range will enable a more realistic evaluation of its taxonomic status.

Lithothamnion muelleri is reported for the first time as one of the main components of rhodolith beds along the Eastern Pacific Ocean based on samples from Washington State (USA), Pacific Baja California (M$\acute{e}$xico), southern Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. Individual rhodoliths ranged from fruticose to lumpy in morphology, and bi-sporangial, tetrasporangial, and gametangial plants were similar to those described from Australia and Brazil. Our study revealed a surprisingly wide latitudinal distribution of this species along the American continent. Its documentation in the Eastern Pacific will facilitate a more accurate interpretation of the ecology, biology, and biogeography of rhodolith beds worldwide.

The genus Neosiphonia Kim and Lee 1999 contains approximately 30 species worldwide. Unidentified samples from Peru are here described as a new species, Neosiphonia ramirezii sp. nov., on the basis of morphological and molecular data. N. ramirezii sp. nov. is characterized by the presence of a limited prostrate system, well-developed erect filaments, rhizoids cut off from pericentral cells by cross walls, four pericentral cells that are completely ecorticate, scarce trichoblasts, inconspicuous scar cells, procarps with three-celled carpogonial branches, spermatangial branches developed from basal cells of forked trichoblasts, and spirally arranged tetrasporangia. Our new species is distinct from N. flaccidissima (Hollenberg) Kim et Lee, N. sphaerocarpa (Borgesen) Kim et Lee, and N. savatieri (Hariot) Kim et Lee from the Pacific temperate coast of South America and from 14 Neosiphonia species reported worldwide by having limited prostrate filaments attached by numerous rhizoids, dichotomous ("Y" shaped) branches in the main axes, and scarce trichoblasts. Phylogenetic rbcL analyses confirm the placement of the new taxon as a distinct species in the genus Neosiphonia.

The descriptions of galls, or tumors, in red algae have been sparse. K$\ddot{u}$tzing (1865) observed possible galls of Bostrychia but only presented a drawing. Intensive culture observations of hundreds of specimens of the genus Bostrychia over many years have revealed that galls appeared in only a small subset of our unialgal cultures of B. kelanensis, Bostrychia moritziana/radicans, B. radicosa, B. simpliciuscula, and B. tenella and continued to be produced intermittently or continuously over many years in some cultures but were never seen in field specimens. Galls appeared as unorganized tissue found primarily on males and bisexuals, but occasionally on females and tetrasporophytes. The gall cells usually were less pigmented than neighboring tissue, but contained cells with fluorescent plastids and nuclei. The galls were not transferable to other potential hosts. Galls could be produced from gall-free tissue of cultures that originally had galls even after transfer to new culture dishes. Electon microscopy of galls on one isolate (3895) showed that virus-like particles are observed in some gall cells. It is possible that a virus is the causative agent of these galls.

A freshwater cyanobacterium, Phormidium autumnale KNUA026, was isolated from puddles of icy water in Gyeongsan City, South Korea and its potential as a biofuel feedstock was investigated. Maximal growth was obtained when the culture was incubated at $25^{\circ}C$ and around pH 9.0. The total lipid content of the isolate was approximately 14.0% of dry weight and it was found that strain KNUA026 was able to autotrophically synthesize heptadecane ($C_{17}H_{36}$) which can be directly used as fuel without requiring a transesterification step. As this benthic cyanobacterium was capable of forming thick mats, it could be easily harvested by gravitational settling and this property may reduce the cost of production in commercial applications. Hence, P. autumnale KNUA026 appears to be a promising resource for use in the production of microalgae-based biofuels.

Some Chlorella species grow heterotrophically with organic substrate in dark condition. However, heterotrophic Chlorella species are limited and their optimum culture conditions are not fully known. In this study, three heterotrophic Chlorella species, two strains (C4-3 and C4-4) of C. vulgaris and one Chlorella sp. (C4-8) were examined on optimum culture conditions such as carbon source, temperature, and concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus in Jaworski's medium (JM). And the growth and fatty acid composition of Chlorella were analyzed. For three heterotrophic Chlorella species, glucose (1-2%) as a carbon source only increased the growth and the range of optimum culture temperature was $26-28^{\circ}C$. Doubled concentrations of the nitrogen or phosphorus in JM medium also improved the growth of Chlorella. Chlorella cultured heterotrophically showed significantly higher growth rate and bigger cell size than those autotrophically did. C. vulgaris (C4-3) cultured heterotrophically showed the highest biomass in dry weight ($0.8g\;L^{-1}$) among three species. With respect to fatty acid composition, the contents of C16:0 and n-3 highly unsaturated fatty acid (HUFA) were significantly higher in autotrophic Chlorella than in heterotrophic one and those of total lipid were not different between different concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus in JM medium. Among three Chlorella species in this study, C. vulgaris (C4-3) appeared to be the most ideal heterotrophic Chlorella species for industrial application since it had a high biomass and lipid content.

Marine microalgae are a promising source of organisms that can be cultured and targeted to isolate the broad spectrum of functional metabolites. In this study, two species of cyanobacteria, Chlorella ovalis Butcher and Nannchloropsis oculata Droop, one species of bacillariophyta, Phaeoductylum tricornutum Bohlin, and one species of Dinophyceae, Amphidinium carterae (Hulburt) were cultured and biomasses used to evaluate the proximate comical compositions. Among the determined proximate chemical compositions of the cultured marine microalgae, the highest content of crude proteins and lipids were exhibited in P. tricornutum and A. carterae, respectively. Solvent-solvent partition chromatography was subjected to fractionate each of the cultured species and separated n-hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, and aqueous fractions. Nitric oxide production inhibitory level (%) and cytotoxicity effect on lipo-polysaccharide-induced RAW 264.7 macrophages were performed to determine the anti-inflammatory activity. N. oculata hexane and chloroform fractions showed significantly the strongest anti-inflammatory activity at $6.25{\mu}g\;mL^{-1}$ concentration. The cancer cell growth inhibition (%) was determined on three different cell lines including HL-60 (a human promyelocytic leukemia cell line), A549 (a human lung carcinoma cell line), and B16F10 (a mouse melanoma cell line), respectively. Among the extracts, C. ovalis ethyl acetate and A. carterae chloroform fractions suppressed the growth of HL-60 cells significantly at 25 and $50{\mu}g\;mL^{-1}$ concentrations. Thus, the cultured marine microalgae solvent extracts may have potentiality to isolate pharmacologically active metabolites further using advance chromatographic steps. Hence, the cultured marine microalgae can be described as a good candidate for the future therapeutic uses.

Intact phycobilisomes from a wild-type red Chondrus crispus and its vegetatively derived green mutant were isolated by centrifugation through a discontinuous sucrose density gradient. Pigment composition was subsequently characterized by spectrophotometry. Vegetative thalli of the two strains grown together for six months in the laboratory resulted in different pigment profiles. Two pigmented phycobilisome bands appeared in the sucrose gradient of the wild-type alga, a purple coloured one, and a pink one, whereas only a single blue band appeared in the gradient of the green mutant. Spectrophotometric and fluorescence analyses identified the phycobiliprotein composition of the purple band as the typical phycoerythrin-phycocyanin-allophycocyanin complement in the wild-type, but there was no detectable phycoerythrin present in the blue band of the green mutant. Sodium dodecyl sulphate, preparative polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis confirmed the presence of allophycocyanin subunits in all extracts, but firm evidence of an R-phycoerythrin linker polypeptide in the blue band was missing. These results highlight the ability of C. crispus to adapt to a phycoerythrin deficiency by adjusting light harvesting pigment ratios.