Cytotoxicity and secondary metabolites production in terrestrial Nostoc strains, originating from different climatic/geographic regions and habitats: is their cytotoxicity environmentally dependent?

Extensive selection of cyanobacterial strains (82 isolates) belonging to the genus Nostoc, isolated from different climatic regions and habitats, were screened for both their secondary metabolite content and their cytotoxic effects to mammalian cell lines. The overall occurrence of cytotoxicity was found to be 33%, which corresponds with previously published data. However, the frequency differs significantly among strains, which originate from different climatic regions and microsites (particular localities). A large fraction of intensely cytotoxic strains were found among symbiotic strains (60%) and temperate and continental climatic isolates (45%); compared with the less significant incidences in strains originating from cold regions (36%), deserts (14%), and tropical habitats (9%). The cytotoxic strains were not randomly distributed; microsites that clearly had a higher occurrence of cytotoxicity were observed. Apparently, certain natural conditions lead to the selection of cytotoxic strains, resulting in a high cytotoxicity occurrence, and vice versa. Moreover, in strains isolated from a particular microsite, the cytotoxic effects were caused by different compounds. This result supports our hypothesis for the environmental dependence of cytotoxicity. It also contradicts the hypothesis that clonality and lateral gene transfer could be the reason for this phenomenon. Enormous variability in the secondary metabolites was detected within the studied Nostoc extracts. According to their molecular masses, only 26% of these corresponded to any known structures; thus, pointing to the high potential for the use of many terrestrial cyanobacteria in both pharmacology and biotechnology.

Production of bio-fuels (hydrogen and lipids) through a photofermentation process.

The purple non-sulfur photosynthetic bacteria Rhodopseudomonas palustris (strain 42OL) was investigated for a co-production of both bio-H(2) and biodiesel (lipids). The investigation was carried out using malic and glutamic acids in a fed-batch cultivation system under continuous irradiances of 36, 56, 75, 151, 320, 500, and 803 W m(-2). Boltzmann's sigmoidal regression model was used to determine growth kinetic parameters during hydrogen photoevolution. The upper limit of volumetric hydrogen photoevolution was 15.5 + or - 0.9 ml l(-1) h(-1). During the entire cultivation period (408 h), the highest average hydrogen production rate (HPR(av)) of 11.1 + or - 3.1 ml l(-1) h(-1) was achieved at an irradiance of 320 W m(-2). Biomasses stored at the end of each experimental set were analyzed in order to determine lipid content, which ranged from a minimum of 22 + or - 1% to a maximum of 39 + or - 2% of biomass dry weight.

Growth characteristics of Rhodopseudomonas palustris cultured outdoors, in an underwater tubular photobioreactor, and investigation on photosynthetic efficiency.

The underwater tubular photobioreactor is a fully controlled outdoor system to study photosynthetic bacteria. Before growing bacteria cells outdoors, two modified van Niel medium (vN-A, vN-B) were tested under artificial light. During exponential growth, the specific growth rates were 0.0416 and 0.0434 h(-1), respectively; vN-B was chosen for outdoor experiments. The growth behavior of Rhodopseudomonas palustris was investigated under a natural light-dark cycle (sunrise-sunset, 15L/9D) and a forced light-dark cycle (9:00-19:00, 10L/14D). Relationships between solar radiations, daily growth rates, and biomass output rates were also investigated. After determining the elemental biomass molar composition and its combustion heat, some trends of photosynthetic efficiency (PE) were obtained over daylight. The PE trends were always of the oscillatory type, with the exception of that achieved at low biomass concentration. Under a natural light/dark cycle, the maximum PE (11.2%) was attained at sunset, while under a forced light/dark cycle, the highest PE (8.5%) was achieved in the morning. Three initial biomass concentrations were investigated (0.65, 1.01, and 1.54 g l(-1)). The stoichiometric equation for bacteria cells indicated that 87.7% of the carbon of acetic acid was converted to biomass and only 12.3% was lost as CO(2).