Morphological characterisation of cultured and freshly separated cyanobionts (Nostocales, Cyanophyta) from Azolla species

Pabby, A. and Prasanna, R. and Singh, P. K. (2004) Morphological characterisation of cultured and freshly separated cyanobionts (Nostocales, Cyanophyta) from Azolla species. Acta Botanica Hungarica, 46 (1-2). pp. 211-223. ISSN 0236-6495

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Abstract

A comparative examination of the morphological attributes of freshly separated and cultured cyanobionts of six species of Azolla, namely A. microphylla, A. filiculoides, A. rubra, A. caroliniana, A. mexicana and A. pinnata, was carried out. Distinct variation with respect to colour and nature of filaments, size and frequency of heterocysts was observed when counterparts of cultured and freshly separated cyanobionts from each species of Azolla were compared. The cyanobionts from A. pinnata showed distinctly larger cells compared with the cyanobionts from other Azolla species, whereas the cyanobiont of A. mexicana resembled Nostoc in exhibiting coiled filaments. The other cyanobionts exhibited mostly straight filaments similar to Anabaena. This investigation brings out clearly the morphological variations existing among the cyanobionts belonging to the different species of Azolla and the transitional changes under in vitro conditions, need to characterise the cyanobionts at inter- and intraspecific level using molecular tools in the future for a more reliable classification system of the cyanobionts associated with Azolla.

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