[A genetic transfer system in a cyanophyte of the genus Aphanocapsa]

The possibility of a genetic transfer, through a process of transformation, has been shown in a unicellular, facultative chemoheterotroph blue-green Algae, Aphanocapsa 6714. Similarly to the process described with Anacystis nidulans, the recipient strain becomes competent when the growth reaches its second, slower, exponential phase. The genetic marker conferring resistance to p-F-phenylalanine has been transferred with a frequency 20 to 100 times higher than that of the spontaneous mutations. The efficiency of transformation decreases by a factor of 70% when the transforming extract, which contains both DNA and RNA, is pretreated with DNase. This transfer process is compared to that observed with A. nidulans by several authors.