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Nitrogen Cycling in Marine Cyanobacterial Mats

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Fossil and Recent Biofilms

Abstract

Cyanobacteria are a diverse group of photoautotrophic prokaryotes. Many species possess a versatile metabolism but their dominant physiology is a plant-type oxygenic photosynthesis, using two photosystems (PS I and PS II) connected in series, allowing them to utilize light as the only source of energy (Bryant, 1994; Whitton & Potts, 2000). Just like plants, cyanobacteria use H2O as the electron donor and evolve O2. CO2 serves as the carbon source and is fixed through the reductive pentose-phosphate pathway (Calvin cycle). It is partly used for the synthesis of structural cell material while another part is diverted to a glycogen-like storage polymer. This polysaccharide is mobilized in the dark and energy is generated through aerobic respiration. To some extend, dark metabolism allows even growth of the cyanobacterium. Under anaerobic conditions several species have been shown to generate energy by fermentation of glycogen (Stal & Moezelaar, 1997). Under anaerobic conditions in the light and in the presence of sulfide, several cyanobacteria are able to switch to anoxygenic photosynthesis, involving only PS I (Cohen et al., 1986).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Marine Microbiology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, P.O. Box 140, NL-4400, Yerseke, AC, The Netherlands

    Lucas J. Stal

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  1. Lucas J. Stal
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. ICBM, Carl von Ossietzky University Olgenburg, Germany

    Wolfgang Elisabeth Krumbein

  2. Gatty Marine Laboratory, University of St. Andrews, Scotland, UK

    David Maxwell Paterson

  3. Institute of Microbiology, Russian Academy of Science, Moscow, Russia

    Georgii Aleksandrovich Zavarzin

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Stal, L.J. (2003). Nitrogen Cycling in Marine Cyanobacterial Mats. In: Krumbein, W.E., Paterson, D.M., Zavarzin, G.A. (eds) Fossil and Recent Biofilms. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-0193-8_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-0193-8_7

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-90-481-6412-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-017-0193-8

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