Growth characteristics of selected thermophilic strains of cyanobacteria using crossed gradients of temperature and light

Abstract

Growth requirements of 10 possibly thermophilic strains of cyanobacteria were compared under a wide spectrum of light and temperature conditions (7–80Wm−2, 12–40°C). The strains were isolated from different localities: six of thermal springs in Slovakia (4 from Piesťany, 2 from Sklene Teplice), one from thermal waters in Rupite, Bulgaria, 2 strains from a hypersaline lake Chott-el-Djerid, Tunisia, and one strain from the tropical island of Cebu, Philippines. Although the crossed gradient unit allowed only sub-optimal temperature range with respect to thermophile definition, i.e. optimum temperature above 45°C, there were difference among the strains. The most thermophilic and high-light tolerant strain was Synechococcus bigranulatus strain Lukavsky 2005/66, with a peak above 45°C; the second was Chroococcidiopsis thermalis strain Hindak 2008/9, and Isocystis sp. strain Hindak 2006/1. The temperature requirements of other strains were similar; the least thermophilic were both Slovakian strains of the genus Hapalosiphon. Growth was not limited below 80 W m−2, except for H. fontinalis strain Hindak 2008/3, which prefers lower irradiance. Hapalosiphon delicatulus strain Hindak 2007/20, isolated from a bark tree on the tropical island of Cebu was rather mesophilic than thermophilic and shade-preferring. The CCA revealed that the ecologically similar strains originated from the same or nearby localities. There were no significant correlations between temperature optima in culture and in nature. Bulgarian and Tunisian strains preferred higher irradiances.