N.H. researchers see toxin found in pond scum as possible cause of ALS Sep 14, 2009
Researchers hope to explain why Lou Gehrig s disease seems to occur more often in people who live near lakes and ponds where cyanobacteria bloom ... The scum - blooms of cyanobacteria often misnamed blue-green algae - produces a toxin that doctors at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H., suspect might have triggered cases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis along the north shore of nearby Mascoma Lake ... 5 times more prevalent among people who live within a half-mile of water bodies... (Boston Globe)
Troublesome Green Algae Harnessed To Make Paper-Based Batteries Sep 12, 2009
It's probably cyanobacteria. (July 15, 2008) Most international cruise ship companies operating in the Baltic Sea have refused to co-operate with a plea from WWF to stop dumping their sewage straight into the water. (Science Daily)
Individual Cells Isolated From Biological Clock Can Keep Daily Time, But Are Unreliable Sep 11, 2009
"We've known for more than 15 years that unicellular organisms like cyanobacteria can keep 24-hour time, and isolated cells from the marine snail eye can as well," says Herzog. "But nobody was sure whether individual cells in vertebrates are circadian pacemakers.". (Science Daily)
Novel bacterial strains clear algal toxins from drinking water Sep 7, 2009
Blooms of blue green algae (cyanobacteria) are found in both fresh and salt water throughout the world. They produce toxins called microcystins which are released into the water and are easily ingested by animals and humans by drinking, swimming or bathing in contaminated water. (EurekAlert!)
Researcher to give invasive species talk Sep 2, 2009
Wilde will discuss how research now implicates invasive aquatic plants and associated cyanobacteria species as links in an emerging fatal disease that primarily affects raptors and waterfowl. The program, which is open to the public, starts at 7 p.m. in the ENSAT Building at Sandy Creek Nature Center, 205 Old Commerce Road off U.S. Highway 441 north of the Athens Perimeter. (Athens Banner-Herald)
Feingold gets wind of blue-green algae in the lakes Sep 1, 2009
McAloon further stated, Senator Feingold appeared stunned that the algae (aka cyanobacteria) is not only dangerous when swallowed or when it comes into contact with the skin, but can be inhaled and cause illness. The Clean Air Act may provide some relief to the 200,000 square surface acres of water in Wisconsin (we do not have an exact count of the surface acres that are affected throughout Minnesota, Illinois and Iowa) as the nutrients flow downstream all the way to the hypoxic dead zone in the... (Chippewa Falls Chippewa Herald, WI)
Scientists Hone Technique To Safeguard Water Supplies Aug 31, 2009
"Recent advances in optoelectronics and portability make this a powerful technology for monitoring the in situ physiology of aquatic photosynthetic organisms such as green algae and cyanobacteria," the authors wrote. Even low levels of toxins alter fluorescence patterns within minutes. (Science Daily)
How Life's Code Emerged From Primordial Soup Aug 31, 2009
The orange color is due to cyanobacteria, one of the earliest forms of life on Earth. A new model shows how primitive life could have evolved from simple amino acids in a "primordial soup." (Credit: iStockphoto/Steve Geer). (Science Daily)
Marine biomedicine researchers decode structure of promising sea compound Aug 29, 2009
An image of the source cyanobacteria assemblage for hoiamide A as seen under the microscope ... Scripps scientists collected cyanobacteria, tiny photosynthetic sea organisms, in Hoia Bay off Papua New Guinea in 2002 and recently discovered that the bacteria produce a compound with a structure previously unseen in biomedicine ... Dan Edwards and Luke Simmons, former members of Gerwick's laboratory, collected a mixture of cyanobacteria species Lyngbya majuscula and Phormidium gracile in May 2002... (EurekAlert!)
Amesbury's Attitash still closed Aug 28, 2009
New test results show that the levels of cyanobacteria or blue-green algae in Lake Attitash have decreased, but health officials are advising people to stay out of the water for at least another week ... The cyanobacteria can cause acute gastroenteritis with severe vomiting and diarrhea. (Amesbury News, MA)
Fellsmere company expects to rake in green with algae farm Aug 25, 2009
They would use indigenous algae and other tiny aquatic plants, including diatoms, angiosperms and cyanobacteria. PetroAlgae has identified 150 species that work in their system. (Florida Today)
Trying to bottle sunshine (18) Aug 25, 2009
Nature s been doing Rabout 4 billion years or so, says Ely, whose group works with cyanobacteria, a microorganism that produces hydrogen as part of photosynthesis. The bacteria can do tricks that engineers struggle to reproduce. (Corvallis Gazette Times, OR)
At the fungal farmer's market, only the best cyanobacteria are for sale Aug 22, 2009
Cyanobacterial photobionts of tropical cyanolichens of the genera Acantholichen, Coccocarpia, Dictyonema, and Stereocaulon, belong to a previously unrecognized, exclusively lichenized, novel lineage with the name Rhizonema ... By investigating the evolutionary history of a group of cyanobacteria associated with lichens, Lcking and Lawrey and their team have made some surprising conclusions ... Although lichen fungi represent more than 1000 genera, most are associated with photobionts that... (EurekAlert!)
New Insight Into Evolution of Earth's Life Aug 21, 2009
As they evolved, members of this double membrane class, called cyanobacteria, became the primary oxygen- producers on the planet, generating enough oxygen to alter the chemical composition of the atmosphere and set the stage for the evolution of more complex organisms such as animals and plants. "This work is a major advance in our understanding of how a group of organisms came to be that learned to harness the sun and then effected the greatest environmental change Earth has ever seen, in this... (SkyAndTelescope.com)
Major Insight Into Evolution Of Life On Earth Aug 20, 2009
This subgroup, the cyanobacteria, used the sun's energy to produce oxygen through photosynthesis. They have been tremendously productive, pumping oxygen into the atmosphere; we could not breathe without them. (Science Daily)
Harmful algae growing in Amesbury's Lake Attitash Aug 18, 2009
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health is recommending residents avoid all contact with Lake Attitash waters as a bloom of cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae, is growing steadily in the lake ... Cyanobacterial blooms can form in warm, slow-moving waters that are rich in nutrients such as fertilizer runoff or septic tank overflows ... gov/hab/cyanobacteria/pdfs/facts. (Amesbury News, MA)
Nitrogen fixation and phytoplankton blooms in the southwest Indian Ocean Aug 15, 2009
Previously, it has been thought that the large-scale autumn bloom that develops in this region is driven by nitrogen-fixing blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria, called Trichodesmium, colonies of which the researchers found to be abundant. However, the 2005 bloom was dominated by a diatom a type of phytoplankton the cells of which play host to another nitrogen-fixing cyanobacterium called Richella intracellularis, with Trichodesmium apparently playing second fiddle. (EurekAlert!)
Blue-green algae warning issued for Amesbury Aug 8, 2009
The state Department of Public Health has notified the towns of Amesbury and Merrimac that a potential bloom of Cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae, has been detected on Lake Attitash. Samples are currently being tested for confirmation. (Amesbury News, MA)
Great Diversity Of Marine Plankton Drive Oceanic Photosynthesis Aug 8, 2009
A quantitative evaluation of the global importance of their pigment during the year 2000 suggested that the biomass of these organisms may be up to twice as important as that of cyanobacteria or diatoms, the two groups of phytoplankton classically considered as the champions of photosynthesis in open ocean waters. The success of these small haptophytes may reside in the fact that in addition to feeding from light via photosynthesis, they consume bacterial prey, organic matter or pico-protists... (Science Daily)
Analysis of current and alternative phenol based RNA extraction methodologies for cyanobacteria Aug 7, 2009
Cyanobacteria possess an extended array of secondary metabolites that impair cell lysis, presenting particular challenges when it comes to nucleic acid isolation ... With this work we identify and explore strategies for improved and lower cost high quality RNA isolation from cyanobacteria. (BioMed Central)
'Nasty' algae even starting to gross out Silver Lake regulars Aug 3, 2009
Conditions got so bad that on Friday the Cowlitz Health Department advised people to avoid the water since the algae known as a cyanobacteria can contain harmful toxins. The health department recommends no swimming and limited contact with the water until tests confirm the water is safe again. (Longview Daily News, WA)
NH warns of high bacteria in Locke Lake Jul 23, 2009
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) -- New Hampshire environmental officials are warning swimmers that cyanobacteria counts are high in Barnstead's Locke Lake ... Cyanobacteria also can affect pets ... Cyanobacteria are natural components of water bodies, but blooms form as surface scum when excess phosphorus is present. (Concord Monitor)
Century-old Eggs Revived To Study Evolution Jul 19, 2009
In 1999 Hairston and colleagues published a paper in Nature that described how 40-year-old resurrected eggs could answer whether tiny crustaceans called Daphnia in central Europe's Lake Constance had evolved to survive rising levels of toxic cyanobacteria, known as blue-green algae. In the 1970s, phosphorus levels from pollution rose in the lake, increasing the numbers of cyanobacteria. (Science Daily)
'Artificial leaves can generate energy' Jul 18, 2009
Possible outcomes include photosynthetic cyanobacteria or algae that produce butanol (a form of alcohol that can be used as biofuel). To combine natural and technological components to create solar collectors that supply fuel rather than electricity. (EurekAlert! -- Business News)
New Drugs Faster From Natural Compounds Jul 14, 2009
"These advances will speed the process by which we discover and describe new and biologically active molecules from organisms such as marine cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae. This, in turn, will accelerate the timeline for bringing new experimental therapies into clinical application," said William Gerwick, an author on the paper and a professor with the UC San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography Center for Marine Biotechnology and Biomedicine and the UCSD Skaggs School of... (Science Daily)
Saharan Dust Storms Linked To Enigmatic Fertilizer Plankton In Ocean Jul 10, 2009
We re testing whether Saharan dust can promote the growth of a particular type of microbe, a cyanobacteria. These cyanobacteria can fertilize the surface of the ocean by fixing the abundant nitrogen gas that is dissolved in seawater , says Prof ... The enigmatic cyanobacteria UCYN-A seems to be a very special nitrogen fixer. (Science Daily)
ACROSS THE POND AND BEYOND: Cant ignore the cyanobacteria Jul 4, 2009
ACROSS THE POND AND BEYOND: Cant ignore the cyanobacteria - Pembroke, MA - Pembroke Mariner & Reporter ... ACROSS THE POND AND BEYOND: Cant ignore the cyanobacteria ... Not only that, but those who live on the ponds are now faced with the likelihood of a heavy algae bloom to cope with, and the possibility of the blue-green bloom known as cyanobacteria. (Pembroke Mariner, MA)
Toxic algae closes ponds in Brewster and Harwich Jul 2, 2009
Hinckley s Pond in Harwich and Walkers Pond in Brewster are closed to swimming, wading, fishing and boating following the detection of high levels of the toxic algae cyanobacteria. State officials are monitoring the sites and say the ponds could reopen in about two weeks. (Harwich Oracle, MA)
Rain increases bacteria in NH lakes Jun 29, 2009
The state issued warnings about high levels of cyanobacteria for six lakes and ponds this month, though only one remains in effect, for Willand Pond in Dover and Somersworth. Jody Connor with the state Department of Environmental Services, told the New Hampshire Sunday News that the state has an extensive system to test many of its 950 lakes and ponds, and residents and tourists shouldn't fear going into the water. (Concord Monitor)
It's no fraud: fossils reveal early life on earth Jun 20, 2009
They reconfirmed their age and concluded they were the remains of cyanobacteria and other multicellular algae that form long filaments and can mass together to produce thick mats. Professor Rasmussen said that Dr Azmi was pleased to have had his name cleared. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Australia)
NH lifts warning on Mascoma Lake Jun 20, 2009
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) -- New Hampshire officials have revoked a water-quality warning at Mascoma Lake in Enfield after samples showed the concentration of cyanobacteria in the water dropped between 70 and 80 percent since they first posted the caution late last week. A sample taken at Dartmouth Yacht Club on Tuesday contained 14 percent cyanobacteria -- well below the 50 percent state threshold for a warning ... But a state expert said the reduced levels don't mean the cyanobacteria have... (Concord Monitor)
Sustainable Agriculture Using Biofe... Jun 6, 2009
These include bacteria like Azolla, Azospirillum, Azotobacter, Rhizobium, cyanobacteria (blu-green algae), phosphobacteria, Sesbania, etc. Biofertizers also provide growth promoting substances like vitamins, hormones, amino acids etc. (Suite101.com)
Algae warning in NH lake Jun 6, 2009
The algae, or cyanobacteria, can cause health effects ranging from skin and mucous membrane irritation to nausea and even central nervous system damage, The Keene Sentinel reported ... The warning will stay in place until lake samples show the cyanobacteria levels have gone down. (Concord Monitor)
Feingold pays annual county visit Jun 3, 2009
Not surprisingly, the ever-present concern about the presence of cyanobacteria in lakes Menomin and Tainter was raised by more than one resident. A member of the Tainter-Menomin Lake Improvement Association, Peggy McAloon invited Feingold to visit again in August when the blue-green algae bloom is at its smelliest height so he can see the problem for himself. (Menomonie Dunn County News, WI)
Plant Min Protein Sits Tight And Rescues E. Coli May 28, 2009
Chloroplasts originated from cyanobacteria that colonised primitive plant cells, and the conservation of MinD, MinE and FtsZ genes in plants was already an indication of some conservation of function. Nonetheless it is unexpected and exciting to find that plant MinD can collaborate with bacterial MinC to convert E. coli from an oscillating to a Bacillus-type mechanism of Min action, and this finding opens new avenues for exploring Min function in both bacteria and plants. (Science Daily)
Scientists Work To Plug Microorganisms Into The Energy Grid May 20, 2009
Microscopic organisms from bacteria and cyanobacteria, to fungi and microalgae, are biological factories that are proving to be efficient sources of inexpensive, environmentally friendly biofuels that can serve as alternatives to oil, according to research presented at the 109th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology ... Microscopic organisms from bacteria and cyanobacteria, to fungi to microalgae, are. (Science Daily)
More of this story May 9, 2009
The presence of cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, was also tested for. They searched for a whole group of those toxins, but didn t find anything, he said, adding that assessments for other compounds might still be evaluated. (Lihue Garden Island, HA)
The Life That Escaped Darwin’s Notice Apr 29, 2009
Cyanobacteria (formerly called blue-green algae) live on the very top ... He even suspected that they could involve cyanobacteria, which, at 3 ... In the spring of 2002, the Oxford University paleontologist Martin Brasier refuted Schopf s study and described the supposed cyanobacteria as artifacts. (Science Daily)
Scientists Give A Hand(edness) To The Search For Alien Life Apr 28, 2009
Their device has already proved itself able to discern the polarized light scattered from the chlorophyll in leaves and also cyanobacteria (image), one-celled organisms that evolved early in the history of life on Earth. (Credit: Roger Burks (University of California at Riverside), Mark Schneegurt (Wichita State University), and Cyanosite (www-cyanosite. (Science Daily)
Circadian Clock: Scientists Model 3D Structures Of Proteins That Control Human Clock Apr 15, 2009
7, 1998) Three genes essential to circadian rhythms in cyanobacteria, the simplest organisms known to have such "internal clocks," have been identified by scientists funded by the National Science. . (Science Daily)
New Images Of Marine Microbe Illuminate Carbon And Nitrogen Fixation Apr 9, 2009
In at least one other type of cyanobacteria, the cells of a filament form groups: some cells fix carbon, while others take care of the nitrogen. "For a lot of organisms, they either fix carbon during the day and nitrogen at night, or if they're a long chain organism, they'll have certain cells that are partitioned off," Finzi-Hart explained. (Science Daily)
Nickel "Famine" Led to Oxygen-Breathing Life? Apr 9, 2009
Meanwhile, a class of photosynthetic bacteria known as cyanobacteria, which had been on the scene since 2 ... The finding, Konhauser added, would help explain why there was a 300- to 400-million-year delay between when cyanobacteria appeared and oxygen began building up in the atmosphere. (National Geographic)
Plastid chaperonin proteins Cpn60alpha and Cpn60beta are required for plastid division in Arabidopsis thaliana Apr 6, 2009
Plastids arose from a free-living cyanobacterial endosymbiont and multiply by binary division as do cyanobacteria. Plastid division involves nucleus-encoded homologs of cyanobacterial division proteins such as FtsZ, MinD, MinE, and ARC6 ... However, homologs of many other cyanobacterial division genes are missing in plant genomes and proteins of host eukaryotic origin, such as a dynamin-related protein, PDV1 and PDV2 are involved in the division process. (BioMed Central)
Deep-sea Rocks Point To Early Oxygen On Earth Mar 26, 2009
To have this amount of oxygen, the Earth must have had oxygen producing organisms like cyanobacteria actively producing it, placing these organisms much earlier in Earth's history than previously thought ... 17, 2004) Widespread volcanic activity, cyanobacteria and global glaciation may sound like the plot of a new, blockbuster disaster movie, but in reality, they are all events in the mystery surrounding the. (Science Daily)
Biocomputational prediction of non-coding RNAs in model cyanobacteria Mar 24, 2009
Previous work revealed a relatively high number of ncRNAs in some marine cyanobacteria. However, for efficient genetic and biochemical analysis it would be desirable to identify a set of ncRNA candidate genes in model cyanobacteria that are easy to manipulate and for which extended mutant, transcriptomic and proteomic data sets are available ... Here we have used comparative genome analysis for the biocomputational prediction of ncRNA genes and other sequence/structure-conserved elements in... (BioMed Central)
Eutrophication Of Lake Constance Led To Genetic Changes In A Species Of Water Flea Mar 18, 2009
In the 1970s and 1980s, inputs of phosphate detergents and fertilizer runoff led to eutrophication, with the development of algal blooms, including toxic cyanobacteria (blue-green algae). Fish died as a result of oxygen depletion. (Science Daily)
Discovering The Secret Code Behind Photosynthesis Mar 10, 2009
These systems, which are thought to have evolved from ancient cyanobacteria, are found in chloroplasts - the part of a cell of a plant which conducts photosynthesis, converting light to chemical energy. Writing in the Royal Society journal Proceedings of the Royal Society:B, Dr Sujith Puthiyaveetil and Professor John F Allen from Queen Mary's School of Biological and Chemical Sciences report that these two-component systems have played a fundamental role in linking the process of photosynthesis... (Science Daily)
Odd Life Found in Great Lakes Feb 26, 2009
In the oxygen-depleted water, cyanobacteria carry out photosynthesis using sulfur compounds rather than water and give off hydrogen sulfide, the smelly rotten-egg gas. Where the sinkholes are deeper still and light fails, microorganisms use chemical means rather than photosynthesis to metabolize the sulfurous nutrients. (Yahoo News)
New 'Light' On Fascinating Rhythms Of Circadian Clock Feb 20, 2009
19, 2009) Scientists have long known that interrupting the 24-hour circadian rhythm plays havoc with the lives and health of medical, military and airline personnel, factory employees and travelers. A new paper by University of Notre Dame biologist Giles Duffield and a team of researchers that appears in this month's edition of the journal Cell Biology sheds new light on circadian timing systems and focuses on a key gene that seems to regulate the response of the circadian clock to light... (Science Daily)
Photosynthesis Genes Linked To Marine Virus Fitness Feb 18, 2009
With his computer simulation model, Hellweger knocked out the photosynthesis genes of cyanophages (viruses that attack marine cyanobacteria species such as Synechococcus and Prochlorococcus) to compare the fitness-level of these viruses to those containing the genes. Simulating a ten-year time span, he found that viruses without the photosynthesis genes were dead while the ones with the genes present survive. (Science Daily)
Molecular Wires Plug In To Capture Light Energy Feb 17, 2009
17, 2009) Plants, algae, and cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) are masters of everything to do with solar energy because they are able to almost completely transform captured sunlight into chemical energy. This is in part because the electrons set free by the photons are transported out of the light receptor 1:1 to be used as the driving force for chemical reactions. (Science Daily)
Internal clocks keep all living things ticking — even you Feb 8, 2009
It's found in blue-green algae, also known as cyanobacteria, the one-celled creatures that create pond scum. This clock started keeping time about 3. (Fresno Bee -- Local)
