Cyanobacteria are a phylum of bacteria (prokaryotes), also known as “blue-green algae“. Until recently this phylum included the unique class of Cyanophyceae or Oxyphotobacteria. These bacteria fix carbon dioxide carbon by photosynthesis and release oxygen.
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In 2013 a group of bacteria related to the known but non-photosynthetic cyanobacteria was discovered in the human gut and in surface waters. It forms the class Melainabacteria (en), or perhaps a new phylum.
In 2017 a new group was discovered, related to the previous ones but phylogenetically basal, also non-photosynthetic. It forms the class Sericytochromatia, or perhaps a new phylum.
More than 7,500 species of cyanophyceae are known (of which at least 200 may be free, i.e. non-symbiotic and capable of independent life), distributed in more than 150 genera.
The taxa contained in the phylum Cyanobacteria have not been validated by the Bacteriological Code (1990 Revision), except :
- the classes Chroobacteria, Hormogoneae and Gloeobacteria,
- the orders Chroococcales, Gloeobacterales, Nostocales, Oscillatoriales, Pleurocapsales and Stigonematales,
- the families Prochloraceae and Prochlorotrichaceae,
- the genera Halospirulina, Planktothricoides, Prochlorococcus, Prochloron, Prochlorothrix and Rubidibacter.
The species names Crinalium epipsammum De Winder et al. 1991, Microcystis aeruginosa Otsuka et al. 2001, Planktothrix mougeotii Suda et al. 2002 and Planktothrix pseudagardhii Suda and Watanabe 2002 are subsequent to the Bacteriological Code (1990 Revision).
Cyanobacteria, despite a possible superficial and ecological resemblance, are not algae but colonial bacteria. They are mostly filamentous forms of possibly sticky consistency, the majority of which are microscopic. Despite their vernacular name they can take on various colours and are rarely blue. These colours come from the blue (phycocyanins) and red (phycoerythrins) pigments that mask chlorophyll a.
Oxyphotobacteria perform oxygen photosynthesis and can therefore transform solar energy into chemical energy that can be used by the cell by fixing carbon dioxide (CO2) and releasing oxygen (O2). Some of them can under certain conditions fix nitrogen. They are able to consume the organic carbon present in their environment.
There is evidence of CO2 fixation for at least 3.7 Ga, but nothing is known about the organisms that cause it. Cyanobacteria and their ancestors have produced a major ecological upheaval through their release of oxygen into the atmosphere (they are responsible for the Great Oxidation at around 2.45 Ga) and their contribution to the first biological carbon sink and deacidification of the oceans, when they organized themselves into fixed colonies (stromatolites) capable of producing limestone.
Their growing populations, among others in France, favoured by trophic or ecological imbalances (including water eutrophication), pose various problems: obstruction of filtration systems, colouring and sometimes dystrophication of water or anoxia, with secondary metabolites giving a bad taste to the water (geosmin, 2-methylisoborneol, p-cyclocitral…) and some causing serious toxicoses. About forty known species secrete or contain cyanotoxins, which are generally neurotoxins that can cause death in various animals, including humans. These toxins are among the most potent natural poisons known and have no known antidote.
The therapeutic properties of mud baths are believed to be largely due to cyanobacteria. Some species such as spirulina (Arthrospira platensis) are used as a food supplement.
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Last update 2020-04-15. Price and product availability may change.