Abstract
The effect of temperature and oxygen on diazotrophic growth of the thermophilic cyanobacterium HTF (High Temperature Form) Chlorogloeopsis was investigated using cells grown in light-limited continuous culture at a dilution rate of 0.02 h-1. Diazotrophy was more sensitive to elevated temperatures than growth with combined nitrogen. The maximum temperature for growth of cultures gassed with CO2-enriched air was more than 55 °C but less than 60 °C with N2 as the sole nitrogen source, but between 60°C and 65°C when nitrate was present in the medium. The effect of temperature on nitrogenase activity, photosynthesis and respiration in the dark was determined using cells grown at 55°C. Maximal rates of all three processes were observed at 55°C and rates at 60°C during shortterm incubations were not less than 75% of the maximum. However, nitrogenase activity at 60°C was unstable and decayed at a rate of 2.2 h-1 under air and at 0.3 h-1 under argon. Photosynthesis and respiration were more stable at 60°C than anoxic nitrogen fixation. The upper temperature limits for diazotrophic growth thus seem to be set by the stability of nitrogenase.
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Abbreviations
- chl:
-
chlorophyll a
- DCMU:
-
N′-(3,4-dichlorophenyl) N,N-dimethylurea
- Taps:
-
N-tris(hydroxymethyl)methyl-3-aminopropanesulfonic acid
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Thomsen, J.K., Cox, R.P. Upper temperature limits for growth and diazotrophy in the thermophilic cyanobacterium HTF Chlorogloeopsis . Arch. Microbiol. 159, 423–427 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00288588
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00288588