We present a simple and inexpensive method for the capture and release of bacteria contained in an array of conical nanopores on a membrane inside a microfluidic device. As an example, we demonstrate that cyanobacteria can be captured, one bacterium per pore, in a defined orientation with over 500 bacteria per membrane with viabilities as high as 100%. The device can also specifically capture c...

 The main goal of this study was to examine the use of cyanobacteria for evaluating the quality of running water. Accordingly epilithic cyanobacterial communities were collected in Dez River and Ojeyreb drain in south of Iran. Samples were collected in two seasons: autumn and spring. Effective physical and chemical factors on the structure of cyanobacterial communities and the dispersion of the...

Photosynthetic microbial fuel cells (PMFCs) are an emerging technology for renewable solar energy conversion. Major efforts have been made to explore the electrogenic activity of cyanobacteria, mostly using practically unsustainable reagents. Here we report on photocurrent generation (≈8.64 μA cm(-2)) from cyanobacteria immobilized on electrodes modified with an efficient electron mediator, an ...

Cleared lysates of 13 species of filamentous cyanobacteria were examined for the presence of extrachromosomal DNA by using agarose gel electrophoresis and ethidium bromide staining. Seven of the 13 species contained extrachromosomal covalently closed circular DNA, and all but 1 species contained multiple elements. There was no correlation between the presence of extrachomosomal DNA and either t...

The rise of atmospheric oxygen has driven environmental change and biological evolution throughout much of Earth's history and was enabled by the evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis in the cyanobacteria. Dating this metabolic innovation using inorganic proxies from sedimentary rocks has been difficult and one important approach has been to study the distributions of fossil lipids, such as ster...

The factors and processes driving cyanobacterial blooms in eutrophic freshwater ecosystems have been extensively studied in the past decade. A growing number of these studies concern the direct or indirect interactions between cyanobacteria and heterotrophic bacteria. The presence of bacteria that are directly attached or immediately adjacent to cyanobacterial cells suggests that intense nutrie...

The biological fixation of atmospheric nitrogen (N) is a major pathway for available N entering ecosystems. In N-limited boreal forests, a significant amount of N2 is fixed by cyanobacteria living in association with mosses, contributing up to 50% to the total N input. In this review, we synthesize reports on the drivers of N2 fixation in feather moss-cyanobacteria associations to gain a deeper...

Glutamine synthetases (GSs) from two cyanobacteria, one unicellular (Synechocystis sp. strain PCC 6803) and the other filamentous (Calothrix sp. strain PCC 7601 [Fremyella diplosiphon]), were purified to homogeneity. The biosynthetic activities of both enzymes were strongly inhibited by ADP, indicating that the energy charge of the cell might regulate the GS activity. Both cyanobacteria exhibit...

Cyanobacteria can form nitrogen-fixing symbioses with a broad range of plant species. Unlike other plant-bacteria symbioses, little is understood about the immunological responses induced by cyanobionts (symbiotic cyanobacteria). Here, we demonstrated that model plant-symbiotic cyanobacteria, Nostoc punctiforme capable protecting against programmed cell death (PCD) when in Arabidopsis thaliana ...