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Cyanobium

Generic name: CYANOBIUM Rippka et Cohen-Bazire, 1983. Ann. Microbiol. (Inst. Pasteur) 134B: 31-32.
Synonyms:
Diagnosis:
Type species: Cyanobium gracile Rippka et Cohen-Bazire 1983.
Descriptions:
Komárek & Anagnostidis (1998): Cells solitary or in twos after division, not in colonies, small, usually about 1-2(4) um long and about 1(-3) μm wide, without gelatinous envelopes, oval, ellipsoid to shortly rod-shaped, usually with well visible chromatoplasma. Thylakoids are arranged panetally along the cell walls.
Komárek (1992): Unicellular; cells solitary or in groups, widely oval up to shortly cylindricalor shortly rod-like with rounded ends, usually small (+/- up to 2 um in diam.), without mucilage or with very narrow, fine gelatinous layer around the cells. Cells with blue-green, pale blue-green or pinkish cell content (dependent on the PC/PE ratio), immotile. Usually without ability of chromatic adaptation. Thylakoids probably located concentrically near the cell wall. GC-content of the DNA = approx. 66-71 mol. percent. Without filamentous involution cells. Obligatory photoautotroph.
Genotype differences, molecular data:
Reproduction strategies, life cycles, cell division:
Komárek & Anagnostidis (1998): Cell division by binary fission (obligatory by pinching ?),transverse to the long axis, resulting in two isomorphic daughter cells. Cells grow into the original shape and size before the next division.
Komárek (1992): Reproduction by the simple binary transverse fission, perpendicularly to the long axis of the cell.
Ultrastructure:
Cyanobium ultrastructute Komárek et al. (1999): C. gracile, type strain
Taxonomic position, higher hierarchy:
Cyanophyceae, Chroococcales, Synechococcaceae, Aphanothecoideae
Notes to taxonomy, misinterpretations:
Komárek & Anagnostidis (1998): Other small picoplanktic species studied in recent years by numerous biologists (Y. Watanabe, Maeda, Kennaway, Albertano and others) belong to this genus, as well as various species and populations described under the generic name Synechococcus (from which they differ morphologically by more oval cell form, by lack of filament-like involution cells with asymmetric cell division and partly by the thylakoid arrangements. Rippka & Cohen-Bazire (1983) distinguished in Cyanobium three types at the species level from nine strains studied (but without valid taxonomic descriptions). Other important, but taxonomically not well defined
populations are in the list of unrevised Cyanobium species.
Komárek (1992): Only one described species from the culture, defined mainly by biochemical characters; probably much more species, definable also cytomorphologically.
Ecology, ecophysiology, ecological significance:
Komárek (1992): The type strain was described from the culture. According to the "morphological as well as biochemical characters also other species belong to this genus, which grow in marine (saline) or freshwater phytoplankton (cf. picoplanktic species mentioned, e.g., by Y. Watanabe from Japan, G. Kennaway from Wales, Taylor et ale 1990 from England and Scottland, or red species presented by Ernst 1990 from Germany), in mucilage ot epiphytically of other, mainly planktic cyanophytes (known yet as different "small Synechococcus-like species"; compo Chang 1980)) as well as several small periphytic or metaphytic Synechococcus- (e.g., S. diatomicola, S. parvus, etc.) or Cyanothece-species (without keritomic thylakoidal system, e.g., C. gaarderi, C. cedrorum, C. eximia, etc.).
Physiology and biochemistry:
Distribution, endemism, problematic citations:
Reference strain:
Rippka& Cohen-Bazire (1983): PCC6307
Infrageneric scheme, species concept:
List of species:
Cyanobum amethystinum (Copeland) Komárek et al. 1999
Cyanobium bacillare (Butcher) Komárek et al. 1999
Cyanobium diatomicola (Geitler) Komárek et al. 1999
Cyanobium eximium (Copeland) Komárek et al. 1999
Cyanobium gaarderi (Ålvik) Komárek et al. 1999
Cyanobium gracile Rippka et Cohen-Bazire 1983
Cyanobium oceanicum (Hall et Claus 1964) Komárek et al. 1999
Cyanobium parvum (Migula) Komárek et al. 1999
Cyanobium plancticum (Drews) Komárek et al. 1999
Cyanobium roseum (Copeland) Komárek et al. 1999
Cyanobium rubescens (Chang) Komárek et al. 1999
Cyanobium virga-rosea (Chang) Komárek et al. 1999
Cyanobium waterburyi Komárek 1999

Unclear taxa:
Synechococcus ferrunginosus Wawrik 1979
Synechococcus vantieghemii (Prigsheim) Bourrelly 1970
Keys:
List of stains:
Drawings:
Komárek (1992)
Application technology:
Literature:

  2.1 taxonomy: Komárek 1976 (sub Synechococcus p. p.), Chang 1980( sub Synechococcus ), Rippka et Cohen-Bazire 1983, Komárek & Anagnostidis 1986, Waterbury 1989, Waterbury & Rippka 1989, Komárek 1992, Albertano & al. 1996, Komárek 1996, Komárek & Cepák 1997, Komárek & Anagnostidis 1998, Komárek & al. 1999,
  2.2 cytomorphology:
  2.3 16S rRNA sequencing:
  2.4 biology and life cycles:
  2.5 ecology:

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