Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Cyanobacteria cultured in specific media: Cyanobacteria can be helpful in agriculture as they have the ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen in soil. The unicellular cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC6803 was the third prokaryote and first photosynthetic organism whose genome was completely sequenced . [ 246 ]
Cyanobacterial cell division and cell growth mutant phenotypes in Synechocystis, Synechococcus, and Anabaena.Stars indicate gene essentiality in the respective organism. While one gene can be essential in one cyanobacterial organism/morphotype, it does not necessarily mean it is essential in all other cyanobacteria.
Marine cyanobacteria are to date the smallest known photosynthetic organisms; Prochlorococcus is the smallest at just 0.5 to 0.7 micrometres in diameter. [11] [2] The coccoid shaped cells are non-motile and free-living. Their small size and large surface-area-to-volume ratio, gives them an advantage in nutrient-poor water.
Like true algae, cyanobacteria are photosynthetic and contain photosynthetic pigments, which is why they are usually green or blue. Cyanobacteria are found almost everywhere; in oceans, lakes and rivers as well as on land. They flourish in Arctic and Antarctic lakes, [23] hotsprings [24] and wastewater treatment plants. [25]
Nostoc, also known as star jelly, troll's butter, spit of moon, fallen star, witch's butter (not to be confused with the fungi commonly known as witches' butter), and witch's jelly, is the most common genus of cyanobacteria found in a variety of both aquatic and terrestrial environments that may form colonies composed of filaments of moniliform cells in a gelatinous sheath of polysaccharides. [1]
Cyanobacteria can be concerning because some species are capable of producing harmful toxins that may cause illnesses after exposure, depending on the type of toxin and the method of exposure.
In mosses, cyanobacteria are major nitrogen fixers and grow mostly epiphytically, aside from two species of Sphagnum which protect the cyanobiont from an acidic-bog environment. [34] In terrestrial Arctic environments, cyanobionts are the primary supplier of nitrogen to the ecosystem whether free-living or epiphytic with mosses. [ 35 ]
Microcystis aeruginosa is a species of freshwater cyanobacteria that can form harmful algal blooms of economic and ecological importance. They are the most common toxic cyanobacterial bloom in eutrophic fresh water. Cyanobacteria produce neurotoxins and peptide hepatotoxins, such as microcystin and cyanopeptolin. [1]