Cyanobacteria I Flashcards
Are cyanobacteria prokaryotic or eukaryotic
They are all prokaryotic - they have no membrane bound organelles
Do cyanobacteria exhibit sexual reproduction
No
What is the biological species concept
This is based upon sexual exclusivity where the same species can sexually reproduce with each other
Does the biological species concept apply to cyanobacteria
No because the biological species concept is based on the evidence of sexual reproduction whereas cyanobacteria are asexual (they do viral transference/transduction of genetic material)
Which species concepts apply to cyanobacteria
The phylogenetic species concept and the morphological species concept
Describe the phylogenetic species concept
Molecular and morphological evidence is used to define several species (here cyanobacteria that share one or more distinct traits denote a species and tentatively their relatedness to other species)
Describe the morphological species concept
species are defined by a set of distinct physical features that are considered to be reliable or conservative
Describe the types of morphologies we have seen for cyanobacteria
- colonial morphology
- filamentous morphology
What is the key taxonomically diagnostic feature of the cyanobacteria
Cyanobacteria are distinguished from all other algae by their prokaryotic cell condition (they are the only prokaryotes amongst the algae) –> so they don’t have a nucleus, chloroplast (but have chlorophyl), and no membrane bound organelles
Do cyanobacteria have a cell wall
no - they are prokaryotic and have no true cell wall
What is a cyanophycin granule
- in cyanobacteria
- this is pellets of stored nitrogen (is useful if they have extra nitrogen than they need)
What is a polyphosphate body
- in cyanobacteria
- with this cyanobacteria can store phosphorous
- makes cyanobacteria good at competing for phosphorous
- they can take it up in excessive amounts (luxury consumption) which then turns into a polyphosphate body
What is a sheath
slimy layer, cyanobacteria tend to be sticky because of this sheath
What are phycobilisomes
- in cyanobacteria
- these are pigments that help harvest light for photosynthesis (but this is not chlorophyl)
What types of branching can cyanobacteria show
true branching and false branching