Colony development and physiological characterization of the edible blue-green alga, Nostoc sphaeroides (Nostocaceae, Cy

The edible blue-green alga,Nostoc sphaeroides Kützing,is able to form microcolorties and spherical macrocolonies.It has been used as a potent herbal medicine and dietary supplement for centuries because of its nutraceutical and pharmacological benefits.However,lim-ited information is available on the development of the spherical macrocolonies and the environmental factors that affect their structure.This report described the morphogenesis of N.Sphaeroides from single trichomes to macrocolonies.During the process,most structural features of macrocolonies of various sizes were dense maculas,rings,the compact core and the formation of liquid core;and the filaments within the macrocolonies showed different lengths and arrays depending on the sizes of macrocolonies.Meanwhile temperature and light intensity also strongly affected the internal structure of macrocolonies.As microcolonies further increased in size to form 30 mm mac-rocolonies,the colonies differentiated into distinct outer,middle and inner layers.The filaments of the outer layer showed higher max-imum photosynthetic rates,higher light saturation point,and higher photosynthetic efficiency than those of the inner layer;whereas the filaments of the inner layer had a higher content of chlorophyll a and phycobiliproteins than those of the outer layer.The results obtained in this study were important for the mass cultivation of N.Sphaeroides as a nutraceutical product.

作 者： Zhongyang Deng Qiang Hu Fan Lu Guoxiang Liu Zhengyu Hu   作者單位： Zhongyang Deng(State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China;Department of Applied Biological Sciences, Arizona State University, Polytech Campus, ISTB III, Mesa, AZ 85212, USA;Algaen Corporation, 925 West Northwest Boulevard, Winston Salem, NC 27101, USA;Department of Biology, Hubei Normal University, Huangshi 435002, China;Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China)

Qiang Hu(Department of Applied Biological Sciences, Arizona State University, Polytech Campus, ISTB III, Mesa, AZ 85212, USA)

Fan Lu(Algaen Corporation, 925 West Northwest Boulevard, Winston Salem, NC 27101, USA)

Guoxiang Liu,Zhengyu Hu(State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China) 

刊 名： 自然科學進展（英文版）  SCI 英文刊名： PROGRESS IN NATURAL SCIENCE  年，卷(期)： 2008 18(12)  分類號： N1  關鍵詞： Macrocolony   Morphogenesis   Nostoc sphaeroides   Photosynthesis