• Title/Summary/Keyword: Cyanobacterium

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Calcium-Boron Interaction in Exopolysaccharide Production by the Cyanobacterium, Nostoc spongiaeforme

  • Singh;Netu;Asthana, R.K.;Singh, S.P.
    • Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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    • v.10 no.3
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    • pp.381-385
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    • 2000
  • The effect and interaction of Ca and B on exopolysaccharide (EPS) synthesis in the diazotrophically growing cyanobacterium. Nostoc spongiaeforme, was investigated. The absence of B inhibited EPS synthesis 1.56-fold ($16\mu\textrm{g}$ glucose equivalent/mg dry weight, 16 d) over the control cells ($25\mu\textrm{g}$ glucose equivalent) grown in medium containing 0.5 mM Ca and $8{\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ B. When B concentration was raised to $40{\mu}{\textrm}{m}$, EPS production was stimulated 1.8-fold. Reduction of Ca concentraion to one-half (0.25 mM) resulted in increased B demand (16$\muM$) by the cells for EPS production at par with the normal sets. However, without Ca, EPS production also increased as B increased. Addition of B to a Ca-free medium stimulated cyanobacterial diazotrophic growth as well as synthesis of Chl a and phycocyanin (0-8 d). The data suggest B-dependent diazotrophic growth during Ca-deficiency and point to and important interactive role of Ca and B in regulation of cyanobacterial EPS synthesis.

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Production of Hepatotoxin by the Cyanobacterium Scytonema sp. Strain BT 23

  • Ashok, Kumar;Singh, D.P.;Tyagi, M.B.;Kumar, Arvind;Prasuna, E.G.;Thakur, J.K.
    • Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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    • v.10 no.3
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    • pp.375-380
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    • 2000
  • The preliminary screening of several cyanobacteria, using mice bioassay, reveale the production of a hepatotoxin by the cyanobacterium Scytonema sp. strain BT 23 isolated from soil. An intraperitoneal injection of the crude toxin (LD50 56 mg/kg body wt) from this strain caused the death of the mice within 40 min, and the anmals showed slinical signs of mice within 40 min, and the animals showed clinical signs of hepatotoxicity. The toxin was purified and partially characterized. The active fraction appears to be nonpolar in nature and shows absorption peaks at 240 and 285 nm. The purified toxin had an LD50 of TEX>$100<\mu\textrm{g}/kg$ body wt and the test mice died within 40 min of toxin administration. The toxin-treated mice showed a 1.65-fold increase in liver weight at 40 min and the liver color chnged to dark red due to intrahepatic hemorrhage and pooling of blood. Furthermore, the administration of the toxin to test mice induced a 2.58, 2.63, and 2.30-fold increse in the activity of the serum enzymes alanine aminotransferase, lactate dehydrogenase, and alkaline phosphatase, respectively. Further experiments with the 14C-labeled toxin revealed a maximum accumulation of the toxin in the liver. The clinical symptoms in the mice were similar to those produced by microcystin-L.R. These results suggest that hepatotoxins may also be produced in non bloom-forming planktonic cyanobacteria.

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Photoinhibition Induced Alterations in Energy Transfer Process in Phycobilisomes of PS II in the Cyanobacterium, Spirulina platensis

  • Kumar, Duvvuri Prasanna;Murthy, Sistla D.S.
    • BMB Reports
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    • v.40 no.5
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    • pp.644-648
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    • 2007
  • Exposure of algae or plants to irradiance from above the light saturation point of photosynthesis is known as high light stress. This high light stress induces various responses including photoinhibition of the photosynthetic apparatus. The degree of photoinhibition could be clearly determined by measuring the parameters such as absorption and fluorescence of chromoproteins. In cyanobacteria and red algae, most of the photosystem (PS) II associated light harvesting is performed by a membrane attached complex called the phycobilisome (PBS). The effects of high intensity light (1000-4000 ${\mu}mol$ photons $m^{-2}s^{-1}$) on excitation energy transfer from PBSs to PS II in a cyanobacterium Spirulina platensis were studied by measuring room temperature PC fluorescence emission spectra. High light (3000 ${\mu}mol$ photons $m^{-2}s^{-1}$) stress had a significant effect on PC fluorescence emission spectra. On the other hand, light stress induced an increase in the ratio of PC fluorescence intensity of PBS indicating that light stress inhibits excitation energy transfer from PBS to PS II. The high light treatment to 3000 ${\mu}mol$ photons $m^{-2}s^{-1}$ caused disappearance of 31.5 kDa linker polypeptide which is known to link PC discs together. In addition we observed the similar decrease in the other polypeptide contents. Our data concludes that the Spirulina cells upon light treatment causes alterations in the phycobiliproteins (PBPs) and affects the energy transfer process within the PBSs.

Identification of a Glucokinase that Generates a Major Glucose Phosphorylation Activity in the Cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803

  • Lee, Jung-Mi;Ryu, Jee-Youn;Kim, Hyong-Ha;Choi, Sang-Bong;de Marsac, Nicole Tandeau;Park, Youn-Il
    • Molecules and Cells
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    • v.19 no.2
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    • pp.256-261
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    • 2005
  • In silico analysis of genome of the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 identified two genes, slr0329 and sll0593, that might participate in glucose (Glc) phosphorylation (www.kazusa.or.jp/cyano). In order to determine the functions of these two genes, we generated deletion mutants, and analyzed their phenotypes and enzymatic activities. In the presence of 10 mM Glc, wild-type (WT) and slr0329 defective strain (M1) grew fast with increased respiratory activity and NADPH production, whereas the sll0593 deletion mutant (M2) failed to show any of the Glc responses. WT and M1 were not significantly different in their glucokinase activity, but M2 had 90% less activity. Therefore, we propose that Sll0593 plays a major role in the phosphorylation of glucose in Synechocystis cells.

Cadmium removal by Anabaena doliolum Ind1 isolated from a coal mining area in Meghalaya, India: associated structural and physiological alterations

  • Goswami, Smita;Syiem, Mayashree B.;Pakshirajan, Kannan
    • Environmental Engineering Research
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    • v.20 no.1
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    • pp.41-50
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    • 2015
  • The cyanobacterium Anabaena doliolum Ind1 isolated from a coal mining site was tested for removal of cadmium at optimum pH 7.0 and temperature $25^{\circ}C$. The organism recorded high percentage of metal removal (92-69%) within seven days of exposure to 0.5-2.0 ppm cadmium. Biosorption onto the cell surface was the primary mode of metal removal. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) established hydroxyl, amides, carboxyl, sulphate and carbonyl groups to be the major functional groups on the cell surface involved in cadmium binding. Cellular ultrastructure and a range of vital physiological processes (i.e., photosynthetic pigments, respiration, photosynthesis, heterocyst frequency and nitrogenase activity) remained unaffected upon 0.5 ppm treatment; higher concentrations of cadmium exerted visible adverse effects. Amongst the five photosynthetic pigments tested, phycocyanin was the most targeted pigment (inhibition was 15-89%). Both respiration and photosynthetic activities were inhibited by cadmium with more severe effect seen on respiration. 2.0 ppm cadmium exposure also had drastic negative effect on nitrogenase activity (87% decreased).

Production of Indole-3-Acetic Acid by the Cyanobacterium Arthrospira platensis Strain MMG-9

  • Ahmed, Mehboob;Stal, Lucas J.;Hasnain, Shahida
    • Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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    • v.20 no.9
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    • pp.1259-1265
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    • 2010
  • The filamentous cyanobacterium Arthrospira platensis strain MMG-9 was isolated from a rice field. The ability of this strain to synthesize the bioactive compound indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) was demonstrated. IAA was extracted from the culture of A. platensis strain MMG-9 and its identity was confirmed by thin-layer chromatography (TLC) as well as by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The IAA precursor L-tryptophan was required for IAA biosynthesis. Released IAA increased with the increase of the initial concentration of L-tryptophan in the medium and with the incubation time. A. platensis strain MMG-9 accumulated more IAA than it released into the medium. The bioactivity of the secreted IAA was shown by its effect on the formation of roots by Pisum sativum. There was a significant positive effect of the supernatant of cultures of A. platensis strain MMG-9 on the number of lateral roots of P. sativum, whereas a negative effect on root length was observed.

Influence of Respiration on Photosynthetic Electron Transport in psaB Mutants from Cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC6803 (Cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp.PCC6803 psaB 돌연변이주의 광합성 전자전달에 미치는 호흡의 영향)

  • 윤병철;장남기
    • Asian Journal of Turfgrass Science
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    • v.11 no.1
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    • pp.59-72
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    • 1997
  • The influence of respiration on photosythetic electron transport were investigated in the Wid type and psaB mutants from Syneehocystis sp. PCC6803. The amount of glucose uptake in the wild type was proportional to the glucose concentration added in wild type and less than that of psaB mutants in the dark. It was suggested that psaB mutants more depend on the glucose than the wild type. It was investigated how the activities of isocitrate dehydrogenase(IDH) and glucose-6-phos-phate dehydrogenase(G6PDH) were changed. The activities of IDH were very low. While, the ac-tivities of G6PDH were much higher than that of IDH. These results agree to the reports that ex-ogenous glucose was dismilated aerobically via Oxidative Pentose Phosphate Pathway in heterotrophic cyanobacteria. PsaB mutants showed high G6PDH activity in the presence of glucose as well as in the dark and high respiratory activities especially in the dark. It was also investigated how photosynthetic electron transport activities were changed. PsaB mutants showed higher photosynthetic electron tranasport activities than wild type in the presence of glucose as well as in the dark. In the results, it was proposed that photosynthetic electron transport between PS I and PS U was complemented by respiratory electron transport through the NADPH generated by Dxidative Pentose Phophate Pathway in psaB mutant from Synechocystis sp. PCC6803. Key words: Photosynthetic electron transport, Respiration, Synechoystis sp. PCC6803, psaB mutant, Glucose uptake, IDH, G6PDH, Respiratory electron transport activity.

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Enzyme Profiles of Alga-Lytic Bacterial Strain AK-13 Related with Elimination of Cyanobacterium Anabaena cylindrica

  • Kim, Jeong-Dong;Han, Myung-Soo
    • Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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    • v.22 no.1
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    • pp.184-191
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    • 2004
  • To investigate bacteria with algalytic activities against Anabaena cylindrica when water blooming occurs and to study enzyme profiles associated with alga-lytic activity, various bacterial strains were isolated from surface waters and sediments in eutrophic lakes or reservoirs in Korea. Among 178 isolates, only nine isolates exhibited lytic abilities against A cylindrica on the agar plates, and then the isolate AK-13 was selected as the strongest in lysing the cyanobacterium A. cytindrica. The strain AK-13 was characterized and identified as Sinorhizobium sp. based on fatty acid methyl ether profiles and 16S rDNA sequence. According to the results of the enzyme assays, in the strain An-13 of Sinorhizobium sp., alginase, amylase, proteinase (caseinase and gelatinase), carboxymethyl-cellulase (CMCase), laminarinase, and lipase was produced, namely CMCase, laminarinase and protease were highly active. None of glycosidase was produced. Therefore, enzyme systems of Sinorhizobium sp. AK-13 were very complex to degrade cell walls of A. cylindrica. The peptidoglycans of A. cylindrica mat be hydrolyzed and metabolized to a range of easily utilizable monosaccharides or other low molecular weight organic substances by Sinorhizobium sp. AK-13.