ANAEBENA

A cyanobacteria
Anaebena
Taxonomic Classification
 Kingdom: Bacteria
 Phylum: Cyanobacteria
 Class: Cyanophyceae
 Order: Nostocales
 Family: Nostocaceae
 Genus: Anaebena
 What is Anabaena?
 Anabaena is a plankton-forming genus of
filamentous cyanobacteria. They're noted for
their nitrogen-fixing ability and their symbiotic
relationships with plants like the mosquito fern.
Occurence
 Itis a filamentous blue green algae
 The genus contains planktonic species as well as
form coatings on other aquatic vegetations.
 Few species are endophytic and grow in cavities
between leaves of water fern azola and roots of
cycads.
 Widely spread in fresh and salt water
 Dominant organism in water blooms
 Presence of heterocyst and akinetes in filament
Plant Body
 Thallus comprised of unbranched filaments in
which cells are joined end to end
 Filaments arise as a result of restriction of cell
division to only one direction
 A single row of cells in a filamentous colony is
trichome
 A filament contain one or more trichome modified
into hetrocysts and akinetes
Cell Structure
 Prokaryotic organisms
 Absence of membrane bound plastid, nuclei, large
vacoule, mitochondria, golgi apparatus, and
endoplasmic reticulum
 Presence of cell wall, chromoplasm, central body,
ribosomes, pseudovacoules, akinetes and
heterocysts
Chromoplasm
 Itcontains flattened sacks, thylakoids freely
available in cytoplasm in which photosynthetic
pigments are present
 Photosynthetic pigments are phycobilins
(phycocyanin and phycoerythrin), chlorophyll,
and carotenoids
 Small spherical granules rich in carbohydrates are
distributed in chromoplasm
Central Body
 Nuclear in nature
 Nucleus without nucleoli and membrane less

Pseudovacoules
Pseudovacoules are gas filled cavities that
help algae to arise to the surface of water to
form algal blooms
Heterocysts

A heterocyst is a differentiated cyanobacterial

cell that carries out nitrogen fixation. The
heterocysts function as the sites for nitrogen
fixation under aerobic conditions. They are formed
in response to a lack of fixed nitrogen (NH4 or
NO3).
Akinetes

 Akinetes are dormant cells of cyanobacteria

species from the Nostocales and Stigonematales
orders, allowing these phototrophic bacteria to
survive in harsh and starvation conditions. These
spore-like thick-walled, nonmotile cells
differentiate from vegetative cells in response to
environmental fluctuations.
Reproduction
 Themost common method of reproduction is
vegetative reproduction and by formation of
spores.

 Thesexual reproduction by fusion of gametes is

absent.
Vegetative Reproduction
 The vegetative multiplication of filaments by a
type of fragmentation known as Hormogonium
formation.
 The chain of cells breks into multicellular
fragments due to the death of one or more cells.
 The broken parts from trichome are motile and
able to develop into new organism
Reproduction by spore formation
 It occur in three ways

 (i) through Akinetes

 (ii) through Endospores

 (iii) through Heterocysts

Akinetes

 The protoplast of akinetes undergo transverse

division and move through ruptured spore wall to
form new filament.
Endospores

 The heterocyst content divide to form small spores

the endospores, which give rise to new filaments
upon germination.
Heterocysts
 The content of heterocyst divides into two germ
lining cells and subsequently into four germ lining
cells.

 Thewall of heterocyst ruptures at the equatorial

region and germ linings come out to germinate as
a new individuals.
Economic Importance
 Nitrogen fixation
 Increase the soil fertility and yield of crops
 Symbiotic relationship
 Reclamation of saline soils
 Water blooms
 Death to animals