Evolutionary history of blue-green algae

• Earth is about 4.5 billion year old

• Precambrian Eon is from 4.5 to 0.5 billion years ago (bya)
• Evidence of O2-producing photosynthesis 3.7 bya
• Oldest possible biological structures of blue-green origin,
~3.5-2.7 bya => stromatolites
• Oldest convincing fossils of individual blue-greens 2.0 bya
• O2 is prerequisite for O3 (ozone), which absorbs ultraviolet
light, making possible the invasion of land
• Familiar plant and animal phyla have existed for only the last
10-15% of the history of the planet.
 Stromatolites
• Layered mounds composed mostly of sediment
• First biogenic structures known; organisms not preserved, but
structures are obviously of biological origin
• Orientation toward light
• Layer of blue-green algae traps, then overgrows sediment
• Became less abundant in fossil record as invertebrate grazers
evolved, but still are formed in a few places
• Oldest known stromatolites date to 3.5 billion yrs ago
• Stromatolite-like structures in your backyard
– fossilized: Petrified Gardens near Saratoga Springs, NY
– living: Green Lake near Syracuse
Shark Bay, Australia
Petrified Sea Gardens
Saratoga Springs, NY
Life in extreme environments: mats of reddish blue-greens around
hot springs in Yellowstone may represent ancient environment
 Nitrogen fixation
• Nitrogen is often a limiting nutrient, most organisms can use
only nitrate or ammonia; nitrogen fixation avoids N limitation.
• Nitrogenase (essential enzyme in N2 fixation) is poisoned by O2
-photosynthesis inhibits N fixation
• Solutions to oxygen problem:
– heterocyst: thick-walled vegetative cell that ceases O2
generation and carries on N2 fixation
– some unicells without heterocysts fix N2 only in the dark
– some filaments without heterocysts form bundles of parallel
filaments; shaded central filaments fix N2
• Symbiotic relationships promoted by N2 fixations
– cycads
– Azolla (water fern)
– blue-green lichens
heterocysts
 Autofluorescence of
photosynthetic pigments: no
pigment in heterocysts, therefore
no photosynthesis, no O2
generation
 Physiological
specialization and
integration in one
heterocyst
heterocyst -- akinete
akinete -- normal
normal cells
cells -- hair
filament:
- nitrogen fixation by
heterocyst
- tapering, hair-like
filament has high
surface to volume
ratio for phosphate
uptake
- akinete (resting
spore) stores both N
and P
 Fouling your own nest: O2 production and N2 fixation by
blue-green algae
• Before 3.7 bya, iron did not rust => earth had a reducing
atmosphere
• O2-producing photosynthesis changed the atmosphere, much
of the free O2 initially produced was consumed by the
spontaneous oxidation of iron
• O2 inactivates nitrogenase, appearance of heterocysts in fossil
record shows evolutionary response to increased O 2 levels
• N2 is no longer available as an N source for many blue-greens
because of the presence of O2; N-limitation of some blue-
greens is a problem of their own making.
Symbiotic nitrogen
fixation

Coralloid roots of cycads house

blue-greens
 blue-greens

Azolla

Floating fern, Azolla, has a pouch on

the underside of each leaf in which
Anabaena grows.
 Azolla in agriculture
• In pure Nostoc or Anabaena culture, 6-10% of the cells in the
filament are heterocysts, frequency increases under nitrogen
deprivation (no available N compounds in water).
• In Azolla leaf, 20-30% of algal cells become heterocysts.
• Rates of N2 fixation can be 2 kg of N per hectare per day.
• Azolla is used in China on 1.5 million hectare annually.
• New ‘community’ products.
Problem blue-green
algal blooms
 Cyanotoxins
• microcystin (Microcystis): hepatotoxin
– acute poisoning can cause death; prolonged non-lethal
doses linked to liver cancer
– over 50 died in hemodialysis facility in Brazil from
microcystin poisoning
• anatoxin (Anabaena): neurotoxin
– mimics acetylcholine but cannot be degraded so muscles
continue to contract, paralysis, suffocation
• aphanotoxin [saxitoxin-PSP] (Aphanizomenon): neurotoxin
– blocks sodium ion channels, inhibits nerve impulse
• dermatoxins - skin rash from swimming
The usual suspects:
Annie, Fannie, and
Mike
 Cyanophyte toxins in water supplies
• Toxins occur in only some strains of most toxic species:
species presence does not necessarily indicate a problem.
– ‘Super Blue-green Algae’ harvested from Klamath Lake,
Oregon is a species of Aphanizomenon that has toxic
strains.
• Cells of some species are too small to remove by filtration.
• Toxins are not removed by filtration or destroyed by
chlorination.
• Treating a bloom can cause simultaneous release of toxins.
• Toxin producers are spreading: Cylindrospermopsis, a non-
native, continuous toxin producer, is now widespread in US.
Black band disease of
corals is caused by a
blue-green alga
Stains on roofs are caused by 'black algae' => blue-green alga
Gleocapsa.
Stains on polar bears in zoos is caused by blue-greens
living inside broken off hollow hairs.
Blue-greens in commerce:
food supplements
Spirulina and commercial aquaculture ponds in Hawaii
Aphanizomenon harvester in Klamath Lake, Oregon -
harvesting wild populations