1887

Abstract

The lengths and cylinder diameters of gas vesicles isolated from eight cyanobacteria were determined by electron microscopy. From these measurements the volumes and buoyant densities of the gas vesicles were calculated. A quantitative analysis was made of the effects of length and diameter on efficiency in providing buoyancy. In seven of the cyanobacteria the mean length exceeded that which would give 90% of the maximum efficiency. It is postulated that the mean diameter () in each organism is constrained by the requirement for a particular critical pressure ( ) to withstand the combination of turgor pressure and hydrostatic pressure experienced in the natural habitat, such that = 59 ( /MPa) nm. The mean diameter of gas vesicles from was estimated to be 84·0 nm with a standard deviation of 4·1 nm. The weakest 10% of the vesicles had a diameter 6·2 nm wider than the strongest 10%, indicating that the variation was not an artifact of measurement. The intrinsic variation in width accounts for about a third of the observed critical pressure variation. The width of new gas vesicles formed in cells of grown in 100 m-sucrose, which reduced turgor pressure by half (to 0·17 MPa), was only marginally greater than in normal conditions, and it is concluded that the mean width is genetically determined and not directly altered by pressure.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-134-10-2635
1988-10-01
2024-04-28
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/micro/134/10/mic-134-10-2635.html?itemId=/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-134-10-2635&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

References

  1. Armstrong R.E., Hayes P.K., Walsby A.E. 1983; Gas vacuole formation in hormogonia of Nostoc muscorum.. Journal of General Microbiology 129:263–270
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Blaurock A.E., Walsby A.E. 1976; Crystalline structure of the gas vesicle wall from Anabaena flosaquae.. Journal of Molecular Biology 105:183–199
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Bowen C.C., Jensen T.E. 1965; Blue-green algae: fine structure of the gas vacuoles.. Science 174:1460–1462
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Damerval T., Houmard J., Guglielmi G., Csis-ZAR K., Tandeaudemarsac N. 1987; A developmentally regulated gvpABC operon is involved in the formation of gas vesicles in the cyanobacterium Calothrix 7601.. Gene 54:83–92
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Gantt E., Ohki K., Fujita Y. 1984; Trichodesmium thiebautii; structure of a nitrogen-fixing marine blue-green alga (Cyanophyta).. Protoplasma 119:188–196
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Hayes P.K., Walsby A.E. 1986; The inverse correlation between width and strength of gas vesicles in cyanobacteria.. British Phycological Journal 21:191–197
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Hayes P.K., Lazarus C.M., Bees A., Walker J.E., Walsby A.E. 1988; The protein encoded by gvpC is a minor component of gas vesicles isolated from the cyanobacteria Anabaena flos-aquae and Microcystis sp.. Molecular Microbiology (in the Press)
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Jost M. 1965; Die Ultrastrucktur von Oscillatoria rubescens D.C.. Archiv für Mikrobiologie 50:211–245
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Jost M., Jones D.D. 1970; Morphological parameters and macromolecular organization of gas vacuole membranes of Microcystis aeruginosa Kuetz. emend. Elenkin.. Canadian Journal of Microbiology 16:159–164
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Klug A. 1972; Assembly of tobacco mosaic virus.. Federation Proceedings 31:30–42
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Lehmann H., Jost M. 1971; Kinetics of the assembly of gas vacuoles in the blue-green alga Microcystis aeruginosa Kuetz. emend. Elenkin.. Archiv für Mikrobiologie 79:59–68
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Rippka R., Deruelles J., Waterbury J.B., Herdman M., Stanier R.Y. 1979; Generic assignments, strain histories and properties of pure cultures of cyanobacteria.. Journal of General Microbiology 111:1–61
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Smith R.V., Peat A. 1967; Comparative structure of the gas-vacuoles of blue-green algae.. Archiv für Mikrobiologie 57:111–122
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Tandeau De Marsac N., Mazel D., Bryant D.A., Houmard J. 1985; Molecular cloning and nucleotide sequence of a developmentally regulated gene from the cyanobacterium Calothrix PCC 7601: a gas vesicle protein gene.. Nucleic Acids Research 13:7223–7236
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Waaland J.R., Branton D. 1969; Gas vacuole development in a blue-green alga.. Science 163:1339–1341
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Walker J.E., Hayes P.K., Walsby A.E. 1984; Homology of gas vesicle proteins in cyanobacteria and halobacteria.. Journal of General Microbiology 130:2709–2715
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Walsby A.E. 1971; The pressure relationships of gas vacuoles.. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B178:301–326
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Walsby A.E. 1972; Structure and function of gas vacuoles.. Bacteriological Reviews 36:1–32
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Walsby A.E. 1973; A portable apparatus for measuring relative gas vacuolation, the strength of gas vacuoles, and turgor pressure in planktonic blue-green algae and bacteria.. Limnology and Oceanography 18:653–658
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Walsby A.E. 1974; The isolation of gas vesicles from blue-green algae.. Methods in Enzymology 31A:678–686
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Walsby A.E. 1978; The gas vesicles of aquatic prokaryotes.. In Relations between Structure and Function in the Prokaryotic Cell, pp. 327–358 Stanier R. Y., Rogers H. J., Ward J. B. Edited by Cambridge: Cambridge University Press;
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Walsby A.E. 1980; The water relations of gas- vacuolate prokaryotes.. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B208:73–102
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Walsby A.E., Armstrong R.E. 1979; Average thickness of the gas vesicle wall.. Journal of Molecular Biology 129:279–285
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Walsby A.E., Booker M.J. 1980; Changes in buoyancy of a planktonic blue-green alga in response to light intensity.. British Phycological Journal 15:311–319
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Walsby A.E., Hayes P.K. 1988; The minor cyanobacterial gas vesicle protein, GVPc, is attached to the outer surface of the gas vesicle.. Journal of General Microbiology 134:2647–2657
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Walsby A.E., Van Rijn J., Cohen Y. 1983a; The biology of a new gas-vacuolate cyanobacterium, Dactylococcopsis salina sp. nov., in Solar Lake.. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B217:417–447
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Walsby A.E., Utkilen H. C., Johnsen I. J. 1983b; Buoyancy changes of a red coloured Oscillatoria agardhii in Lake Gjersjoen, Norway.. Archiv für Hydrobiologie 97:18–38
    [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-134-10-2635
Loading
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-134-10-2635
Loading

Data & Media loading...

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error