Coleochaete is a genus of
parenchymatous charophyte green algae in the order
Coleochaetales. They are
haploid, reproduce both
sexually and
asexually, and have true multicellular organisation, with
plasmodesmata communicating between adjacent cells. The plants form flat, sprawling discs on solid surfaces in freshwater streams worldwide, usually as
epiphytes on
aquatic plants or growing on the surface of stones. They are seen as one of two most probable sister groups to land plant species, the second candidate group being the
Characeae. The issue is still not resolved). As they show some of the earliest and simplest features of multicellular plant growth, they are ideal
model organisms in the field of
synthetic biology. They are easy to culture and techniques that have been used to study
Arabidopsis thaliana are now being applied to the
Coleochaete.