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Cyanobacteria: Habitats and Species

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Plant Desiccation Tolerance

Part of the book series: Ecological Studies ((ECOLSTUD,volume 215))

Abstract

Cyanobacteria were most probably the first group of organisms performing an oxygen releasing photosynthesis. Their possible fossil origin (“look-alikes”) from Apex chert of north-western West Australia dates back to about 3.46 billion years (Schopf 2000). However, the oldest unambiguous fossil cyanobacteria were found in tidal-flat sedimentary rocks and are about 2 billion years old (Hofmann 1976). With the onset of oxygenic photosynthesis between 2.45 and 2.32 billion years ago (Rasmussen et al. 2008), the ancient Earth’s oxygen-free atmosphere experienced a deep impact with the sharp rise of oxygen. Before the evolution of respiration, the oxygen was highly toxic to life, and as a consequence, the first global catastrophe for most of the organisms living on earth to that date followed. Today, cyanobacteria are found in almost all habitats and biomes present on earth (Whitton and Potts 2000). However, to successfully colonize terrestrial habitats does also mean to be able to resist extreme desiccation. Air-drying does severely harm membrane structure, proteins, and nucleic acids and is lethal to the majority of organisms on Earth (Billi and Potts 2002). During their long evolutionary history, cyanobacteria developed the ability of their cells to undergo nearly absolute dehydration during air-drying without being killed, a phenomenon known as anhydrobiosis. This is also referred to as “desiccation tolerance” and is one mechanism of drought tolerance (Alpert 2005). Consequently, cyanobacteria colonized more and more of the available terrestrial habitats. Dehydration in air can lead to a removal of all but 0.1 g water/g dry weight (Billi and Potts 2000).

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Acknowledgments

I would like to express my sincere thanks to U. Lüttge and E. Beck for offering me the opportunity to write this review and for many inspiring discussions. The German Research Foundation (DFG) is thanked for continuous financial support of my work. R. Honegger (Zürich) is thanked for preparation, thin sectioning and electron microscopy of dry Chroococcidiopsis cells.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Botany, University of Kaiserslautern, 67663, Kaiserslautern, Germany

    Burkhard Büdel

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  1. Burkhard Büdel
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Correspondence to Burkhard Büdel .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Inst. Botanik, TU Darmstadt, Schnittspahnstr. 3-5, Darmstadt, 64287, Germany

    Ulrich Lüttge

  2. Inst. Pflanzenphysiologie, Univ. Bayreuth, Bayreuth, 95440, Germany

    Erwin Beck

  3. Inst. Molekulare Physiologie und, Biotechnologie der Pflanzen (IMBIO), Universität Bonn, Kirschallee 1, Bonn, 53115, Germany

    Dorothea Bartels

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Büdel, B. (2011). Cyanobacteria: Habitats and Species. In: Lüttge, U., Beck, E., Bartels, D. (eds) Plant Desiccation Tolerance. Ecological Studies, vol 215. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-19106-0_2

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