Ultrastructural studies on lysis of blue-green algae by a bacterium

Abstract

Bacteria which lyse blue-green algae were isolated from soil samples collected from Africa and Japan. The characteristics of one of these bacteria (bacterium MY-1) were electron microscopically investigated. The bacterium was an aflagellate, gram-negative rod. The vegetative cells of Anabaena cylindrica were rapidly decomposed by the action of this bacterium MY-1 and only membranous materials, probably fragments of thylakoid, remained. The inner membranes of akinetes and heterocysts were also digested, leaving the outer membrane or envelope intact. © 1977, Applied Microbiology, Molecular and Cellular Biosciences Research Foundation. All rights reserved.