Cyanobacteria are ecologically important photosynthetic prokaryotes that also serve as popular model organisms for studies of photosynthesis and gene regulation. Both molecular and ecological studies of cyanobacteria benefit from real-time information on photosynthesis and acclimation. Monitoring in vivo chlorophyll fluorescence can provide noninvasive measures of photosynthetic physiology in a...

Cyanobacteria are among the first microorganisms to have inhabited the Earth. Throughout the last few billion years, they have played a major role in shaping the Earth as the planet we live in, and they continue to play a significant role in our everyday lives. Besides being an essential source of atmospheric oxygen, marine cyanobacteria are prolific secondary metabolite producers, often despit...

Production of titanium-dioxide nanomaterials (nano-TiO2) is increasing, leading to potential risks associated with unintended release of these materials into aquatic ecosystems. We investigated the acute effects of nano-TiO2 on metabolic activity and viability of algae and cyanobacteria using high-throughput screening. The responses of three diatoms (Surirella angusta, Cocconeis placentula, Ach...

The phytoplankton community in three small (0.065-0.249 km2) reservoirs in the stepped plateau landscape in the Kinangop area above the Rift Valley floor in Kenya were studied between 1998 and 2000. Approximately 70 species of phytoplankton were identified. The community was dominated by chlorophytes, cyanobacteria and chrysophytes. Diatoms were rare. The phytoplankton assemblage was frequently...

Feeding behavior of the invasive bivalve Limnoperna fortunei in the presence of single-celled, colonial, and filamentous cyanobacteria was tested in laboratory experiments to evaluate the effects of size and shape on mussel feeding. The first hypothesis holds that golden mussel filters more efficiently smaller particles, such as single cells of Microcystis, which could be more easily assimilate...

The quality of drinking water may be significantly reduced by the presence of cyanobacteria capable of producing toxins, taste, and odor. Several different genera of cyanobacteria are capable of producing microcystin toxins. Moreover, toxin-producing cyanobacteria share specific ribosomal RNA (rRNA) sequences not found in non-toxin-producing strains. Consequently, an rRNA gene probe can be a us...

Cyanobacteria are known to produce secondary metabolites which are toxic to mammals, commonly known as “toxins”. These have been described as having neurotoxic, hepatotoxic and dermatotoxic effects, being a hazard also to humans. Cyanobacteria blooms may represent a hazard to aquatic organisms, when cells collapse, releasing cyanotoxins to the water. Toxins, though, have a dramatic influence on...

Nutrient over-enrichment is one of the classic triggering mechanisms for the occurrence of cyanobacteria blooms in aquatic ecosystems. In the Baltic Sea, cyanobacteria regularly occur in the late summer months and form nuisance accumulations in surface waters and their abundance has intensified significantly in the past 50 years attributed to human-induced eutrophication. However, the natural o...

Black band disease (BBD) of corals is a cyanobacteria-dominated polymicrobial disease that contains diverse populations of heterotrophic bacteria. It is one of the most destructive of coral diseases and is found globally on tropical and sub-tropical reefs. We assessed ten strains of BBD cyanobacteria, and ten strains of cyanobacteria isolated from other marine sources, for their antibacterial e...

Cyanobacteria, the only known prokaryotes that perform oxygen-evolving photosynthesis, are receiving strong attention in basic and applied research. In using solar energy, water, CO2 and mineral salts to produce a large amount of biomass for the food chain, cyanobacteria constitute the first biological barrier against the entry of toxics into the food chain. In addition, cyanobacteria have the ...