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Determination of the Glycogen Content in Cyanobacteria
Published on: July 17, 2017
The odd behaviour of carbonic anhydrase in the terrestrial cyanobacterium Nostoc flagelliforme during
Changpeng Ye1, Kunshan Gao, Mario Giordano
1Marine Biology Institute, Science Center, Shantou University, Guangdong 515063, China.
Abstract:
The terrestrial cyanobacterium Nostoc flagelliforme, inhabiting arid areas, withstands prolonged periods of dehydration. How dehydration and occasional wetting affect inorganic C acquisition in this organism is not well known. As inorganic C acquisition in cyanobacteria often involves carbonic anhydrases (CA), we studied the effect of cycles of hydration and dehydration on the extracellular and intracellular CA activities, at the pH values presumably associated with dew or rain wetting. The external CA of N. flagelliforme (or of the microorganismal consortium of which N. flagelliforme is the main component) is activated by hydration, especially at low pH, and it may facilitate inorganic C acquisition when N. flagelliforme colonies are wetted by dew. Internal CA is present in dry colonies and is rapidly inactivated upon rehydration, therefore an anaplerotic role for this enzyme is proposed.
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