Cianobacteria

Student: Beregoi Daniela

Biology, Years II

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 Cyanobacteria, also known as Cyanophyta, is a phylum of bacteria
that obtain their energy through photosynthesis.
The name "cyanobacteria" comes from the color of the bacteria
(Greek: (kyans) = blue). Sometimes, they are called blue-green
algae, and incorrectly so, because cyanobacteria are prokaryotes and the
term "algae" is reserved for eukaryotes.
Like other prokaryotes, cyanobacteria have no membrane-sheathed
organelles. Photosynthesis is performed in distinctive folds in the outer
membrane of the cell (unlike green plants which use organelles adapted
for this specific role, called chloroplasts). Biologists commonly agree that
chloroplasts found in eukaryotes have their ancestry in cyanobacteria,
via a process called endosymbiosis.
By producing oxygen as a byproduct of photosynthesis,
cyanobacteria are thought to have converted the early oxygen-poor,
reducing atmosphere, into an oxidizing one, causing the "rusting of the
Earth" and the Great Oxygenation Event, that dramatically changed the
composition of life forms and led to the near-extinction of anaerobic
organisms.

Fig. 1 Cyanobacteria, Tolypothrix

Though cyanobacteria do not have a great diversity of form, and

though they are microscopic, they are rich in chemical diversity.

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Cyanobacteria get their name from the bluish pigment phycocyanin,
which they use to capture light for photosynthesis. They also contain
chlorophyll a, the same photosynthetic pigment that plants use. In fact
the chloroplast in plants is a symbiotic cyanobacterium, taken up by a
green algal ancestor of the plants sometime in the Precambrian.
However, not all "blue-green" bacteria are blue; some common forms
are red or pink from the pigment phycoerythrin. These bacteria are
often found growing on greenhouse glass, or around sinks and drains.
The Red Sea gets its name from occasional blooms of a reddish species
of Oscillatoria, and African flamingos get their pink color from eating
Spirulina.
Whatever their color, cyanobacteria are photosynthetic, and so can
manufacture their own food. This has caused them to be dubbed
"blue-green algae", though they have no relationship to any of the
various eukayotic algae. The term "algae" merely refers to any aquatic
organisms capable of photosynthesis, and so applies to several groups.

Cyanobacteria are important in the nitrogen cycle

Cyanobacteria are very important organisms for the health and

growth of many plants. They are one of very few groups of organisms
that can convert inert atmospheric nitrogen into an organic form, such
as nitrate or ammonia. It is these "fixed" forms of nitrogen which plants
need for their growth, and must obtain from the soil. Fertilizers work the
way they do in part because they contain additional fixed nitrogen which
plants can then absorb throough their roots.
Nitrification cannot occur in the presence of oxygen, so nitrogen is
fixed in specialized cells called heterocysts. These cells have an especially
thickened wall that contains an anaerobic environment. You can see
these larger cells among the filaments of Nostoc, shown at right.
Many plants, especially legumes, have formed symbiotic relations
with nitrifying bacteria, providing specialized tissues in their roots or
stems to house the bacteria, in return for organic nitrogen. This has
been used to great advantage in the cultivation of rice, where the
floating fern Azolla is actively distributed among the rice paddies. The
fern houses colonies of the cyanobacterium Anabaena in its leaves,
where it fixes nitrogen. The ferns then provide an inexpensive natural
fertilizer and nitrogen source for the rice plants when they die at the end
of the season.

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 Cyanobacteria also form symbiotic relationships with many fungi,
forming complex symbiotic "organisms" known as lichens.

Nutritious or poisonous?

The cyanobacterium Spirulina, shown at right, has long been valued

as a food source; it is high in protein, and can be cultivated in ponds
quite easily. In tropical countries, it may be a very important part of the
diet, and was eaten regularly by the Aztecs; it is also served in several
Oriental dishes. In the US, the popularity of Spirulina is primarily as a
"health food", being sold in stores as a dried powder or in tablet form.
Many other species of cyanobacteria produce populations that are
toxic to humans and animals. Blue-green pond scums have been linked
to the poisoning of cattle and dogs, and occasionally people. It is
therefore not recommended that wild populations be gathered and
eaten without some knowledge of the organisms involved.
Cyanobacteria may cause other problems as well; a species of
Lyngbya is responsible for one of the skin irritations commonly known as
"swimmer's itch."

Health risks

Cyanobacteria can produce neurotoxins, cytotoxins, endotoxins, and

hepatotoxins (i.e. the microcystin-producing bacteria species
microcystis), and are called cyanotoxins.
Specific toxins include, anatoxin-a, anatoxin-as, aplysiatoxin,
cyanopeptolin, cylindrospermopsin, domoic acid, nodularin R (from
Nodularia), neosaxitoxin, and saxitoxin. Cyanobacteria reproduce
explosively under certain conditions. This results in algal blooms, which
can become harmful to other species, and pose a danger to humans and
animals, if the cyanobacteria involved produce toxins. Several cases of
human poisoning have been documented, but a lack of knowledge
prevents an accurate assessment of the risks.
Recent studies suggest that significant exposure to high levels of
cyanobacteria producing toxins such as BMAA can cause amyotrophic
lateral sclerosis (ALS). People living within a half-mile of cyanobacterially
contaminated lakes have had a 2.3-times greater risk of developing ALS
than the rest of the population; people around New Hampshires Lake
Mascoma had an up to 25 times greater risk of ALS than the expected

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incidenceBMAA from desert crusts found throughout Qatar might have
contributed to higher rates of ALS in Gulf War veterans.

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Bibliography:

https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alg_albastr-verde
www.calivitavelcu.ro/ce-sunt-algele-albastre-verzui-s
pirulina.html
www.microgallery.ro/ro/e/27/algele-verzi-albastre-ci
anobacterii
www.descopera.ro/eticheta/alge-albastre-verzi
www.referatele.com/referate/biologie/online1/Algel
e-albastre-referatele-com.php