Klews, Cristoph, Department of Biology, Bucknell University, 1 Dent Drive., Lewisburg, PA 17837, cck011@bucknell.edu.
Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic microorganisms that are of interest for their potential as a biofuel source but also in their role in diagnosing the environmental conditions of a given waterway. WFMT 1a is a filamentous cyanobacterium that was collected from a waterfall on Whitefish Mountain in Montana. Many filamentous cyanobacteria, such as the isolate discussed herein, can form specialized non-photosynthesizing cells within a filament called heterocysts, whose primary function is to engage in atmospheric nitrogen fixation for the benefit of the whole filament. As other bioavailable nitrogen sources become scarce within an aquatic environment, heterocysts are formed at higher frequencies along a filament up to a minimal distance between heterocysts as determined by intracellular signaling and gene regulation. To better characterize WFMT 1a, we grew cultures from this isolate in an altered media made to be nitrogen-free. We then compared the ratio of heterocysts to vegetative cells and counted the minimal number of vegetative cells between heterocysts.