To overcome the limitations associated with studying the interactions between bacterial communities (BCs) and cyanobacteria in natural environments, we compared the structural and functional diversities of the BCs associated with 15 non-axenic cyanobacterial strains in culture and two natural BCs sampled during cyanobacterial blooms. No significant differences in richness and diversity were fou...

Thin, filamentous, non-heterocystous, benthic cyanobacteria (Subsection III) from some marine, lacustrine and thermal environments aggregate into macroscopic cones and conical stromatolites. We investigate the uptake and storage of inorganic carbon by cone-forming cyanobacteria from Yellowstone National Park using high-resolution stable isotope mapping of labeled carbon (H(13)CO3 (-)) and immun...

The surface ocean absorbs large quantities of the CO2 emitted to the atmosphere from human activities. As this CO2 dissolves in seawater, it reacts to form carbonic acid. While this phenomenon, called ocean acidification, has been found to adversely affect many calcifying organisms, some photosynthetic organisms appear to benefit from increasing [CO2]. Among these is the cyanobacterium Trichode...

To investigate the input of combined nitrogen by cyanobacteria in mangrove ecosystems and the seasonal fluctuation of this biological process, in situ nitrogen fixation activity was measured in day and night experiments carried out at Maruhubi mangrove ecosystem adjacent to Zanzibar town. Sampling was done for 12 months at two stations: Station I covering sandy sediments and Station II muddy se...

The DNA sequence of a 359-bp fragment of nifH was determined for the heterocystous strains Anabaena sp. strain CA (ATCC 33047), Nostoc muscorum UTEX 1933, a Nostoc sp., Gloeothece sp. strain ATCC 27152, Lyngbya lagerheimii UTEX 1930, and Plectonema boryanum IU 594. Results confirmed that the DNA sequence of the 359-bp segment is sufficiently variable to distinguish cyanobacterial nifH genes fro...

Heterocystous cyanobacteria of the genus Nodularia form extensive blooms in the Baltic Sea and contribute substantially to the total annual primary production. Moreover, they dispense a large fraction of new nitrogen to the ecosystem when inorganic nitrogen concentration in summer is low. Thus, it is of ecological importance to know how Nodularia will react to future environmental changes, in p...

A fundamental advancement in the evolution of complexity is division of labour. This implies a partition of tasks among cells, either spatially through cellular differentiation, or temporally via a circadian rhythm. Cyanobacteria often employ either spatial differentiation or a circadian rhythm in order to separate the chemically incompatible processes of nitrogen fixation and photosynthesis. W...