Publication details
Cell ultrastructure changes accompanying the annual life cycle of the cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa.
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2009 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Algological studies |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Web | http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/schweiz/algo/2009/00000130/00000001/art00004 |
| Field | Microbiology, virology |
| Keywords | AUTOTROPHY; BENTHOS; CELL ULTRASTRUCTURE; HETEROTROPHY; LIFE CYCLE; MICROCYSTIS AERUGINOSA; PELAGOS; POPULATION |
| Description | All the year round, a benthic vegetation of the cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa lives in the sedimented swampy mud on the bottom of a water basin. Its cell metabolism, directed by heterotrophy, is slow. The ratio of dividing cells in this population falls beneath 20 %, though its cells permanently keep their division ability. The cells of the benthic population are completely devoid of gas vesicles. Bended fibrils of the gas vesicle wall protein mark the previous position of aerotopes. As soon as in March, a pelagic (planktic) population starts to get established; cells are shifted up from the benthos to the surface of the water column, due to reconstruction of gas vesicles and aerotopes thereof, which reconstitutes their much more intensive autotrophic metabolism. The ratio of dividing cells is increased to its summer standard gradually, reaching nearly 95 % in July. Nevertheless, a typical benthic cell can exceptionally be found in plankton, too. |