Collection and lipid analysis of marine unialgal cyanobacteria: a case study from the southeastern coast of India
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.9565.17.6.27087-27097Keywords:
16S rRNA, BDUM19, BLAST, diversity, isolation, Lipid and FTIR, marine cyanobacteria, microalgae, physio-chemical, survey, Synechococcus sp.Abstract
Cyanobacteria are capable of surviving in extreme environments such as rocky shorelines, drought, desiccation, osmotic stress, salinity stress, UV radiation, and nitrogen starvation. The study collects and analyse cyanobacterial samples from ponds, seashores, and salt pans along the southeastern coastline of Tamil Nadu—specifically from Mimisal, Thondi, Tuticorin, and Tiruchendur. The study involved the isolation and purification of samples using various techniques, including plating, cell disruption, and mechanical separation methods. Cultures were incubated at optimal temperature, photoperiod, and light intensity using artificial sea nutrient and blue-green (BG11) media. Samples were subjected to phototactic movement on 0.4% soft agar plates under both field and laboratory conditions for rapid isolation. Once visible filaments or single colonies were observed, unialgal cells were isolated using a micromanipulator, resulting in the collection of 17 cyanobacterial and three green algal strains. Identification was carried out to the genus level unless distinct species-level characteristics were evident, based on the morphological criteria described for Cyanophyta. Among the 20 strains screened, four marine microalgae exhibited lipid contents of 15% or higher and were classified as high lipid-yielding strains. These selected strains were further evaluated for functional group composition using Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy.
References
Altschul, S.F., T.L. Madden, A.A. Schäffer, J. Zhang, Z. Zhang, W. Miller & D.J. Lipman (1997). Gapped BLAST and PSI-BLAST: a new generation of protein database search programs. Nucleic Acids Research 25(17): 3389–3402.
Bligh, E.G. & W.J. Dyer (1959). A rapid method of total lipid extraction and purification. Canadian Journal of Biochemistry and Physiology 37(8): 911–917.
Bonnet, S., E.A. Webb, C. Panzeca, D.M. Karl, D.G. Capone & S.A.S. Wilhelmy (2010). Vitamin B12 excretion by cultures of the marine cyanobacteria Crocosphaera and Synechococcus. Limnology and Oceanography 55(5): 1959–1964.
Chaurasia, A. (2015). Cyanobacterial biodiversity and associated ecosystem services: introduction to the special issue. Biodiversity and Conservation 24(4): 707–710. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-015-0908-6
Desikachary, T.V. (1959). Cyanophyta. Indian Council of Agricultural Research. New Delhi, 686 pp.
Garrity, G.M. & J.T. Stanley (2001). Bergey’s Manual® of Systematic Bacteriology: Volume 1 - The Archaea and the Deeply Branching and Phototrophic Bacteria. Springer, New York, 931 pp.
Haselkorn, R. & W.J. Buikema (1992). Nitrogen fixation in cyanobacteria. Biological Nitrogen Fixation, 166–190 pp.
Hindák, F. (2000). Morphological variation of four planktic nostocalean cyanophytes–members of the genus Aphanizomenon or Anabaena? Hydrobiologia 438: 107–116.
Nikam, T.D., J.N. Nehul, Y.R. Gahile, B.K. Auti, M.L. Ahire, K.M. Nitnaware, B. Joshi & N. Jawali (2010). Cyanobacterial diversity in Western Ghats region of Maharashtra, India. Bioremediation, Biodiversity and Bioavailability 7(1): 70–80.
Rice, E.W., L. Bridgewater & A.P.H. Association (2012). Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, Vol. 10. American Public Health Association, Washington, DC.
Seo, P.S. & A. Yokota (2003). The phylogenetic relationships of cyanobacteria inferred from 16S rRNA, gyrB, rpoC1 and rpoD1 gene sequences. The Journal of General and Applied Microbiology 49(3): 191–203.
Silambarasan, G., T. Ramanathan & K. Kathiresan (2012). Diversity of marine cyanobacteria from three mangrove environment in Tamil Nadu Coast, south east coast of India. Current Research Journal of Biological Sciences 4(3): 235–238.
Sinha, R.P. & D.P. Hader (1996). Invited Review Photobiology and Ecophysiology of Rice Field Cyanobacteria. Photochemistry and Photobiology 64(6): 887–896.
Sinha, R.P., H.D. Kumar, A. Kumar & D.P. Häder (1995). Effects of UV-B irradiation on growth, survival, pigmentation and nitrogen metabolism enzymes in cyanobacteria. Acta Protozoologica 34: 187.
Stanier, R.Y., R. Kunisawa, M. Mandel & G. Cohen-Bazire (1971). Purification and properties of unicellular blue-green algae (order Chroococcales). Bacteriological Reviews 35(2): 171–205.
Strickland, J.D.H. & T.R. Parsons (1972). A Practical Handbook of Seawater Analysis. Fisheries Research Board of Canada, 310 pp.
Taton, A., S. Grubisic, D. Ertz, D.A. Hodgson, R. Piccardi, N. Biondi, M.R. Tredici, M. Mainini, D. Losi & F. Marinelli (2006). Polyphasic study of Antarctic cyanobacterial strains 1. Journal of Phycology 42(6): 1257–1270.
Thajuddin, N. & G. Subramanian (2005). Cyanobacterial biodiversity and potential applications in biotechnology. Current Science 89(1): 47–57.
Tillett, D. & B.A. Neilan (2000). Xanthogenate nucleic acid isolation from cultured and environmental cyanobacteria. Journal of Phycology 36(1): 251–258.
Turner, S., K.M. Pryer, V.P.W. Miao & J.D. Palmer (1999). Investigating deep phylogenetic relationships among cyanobacteria and plastids by small subunit rRNA sequence analysis 1. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology 46(4): 327–338.
Wang, W., Y. Liu, D. Li, C. Hu & B. Rao (2009). Feasibility of cyanobacterial inoculation for biological soil crusts formation in desert area. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 41(5): 926–929.
Waterbury, J.B. (2006). The cyanobacteria—isolation, purification and identification. The Prokaryotes 4: 1053–1073.
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Rajakumar Sundaram, Selvapriya Selvam
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors own the copyright to the articles published in JoTT. This is indicated explicitly in each publication. The authors grant permission to the publisher Wildlife Information Liaison Development (WILD) Society to publish the article in the Journal of Threatened Taxa. The authors recognize WILD as the original publisher, and to sell hard copies of the Journal and article to any buyer. JoTT is registered under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY), which allows authors to retain copyright ownership. Under this license the authors allow anyone to download, cite, use the data, modify, reprint, copy and distribute provided the authors and source of publication are credited through appropriate citations (e.g., Son et al. (2016). Bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) of the southeastern Truong Son Mountains, Quang Ngai Province, Vietnam. Journal of Threatened Taxa 8(7): 8953–8969. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.2785.8.7.8953-8969). Users of the data do not require specific permission from the authors or the publisher.
