Cyanobacteria News and Research

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Cyanobacterium produces compounds that could treat chronic inflammatory conditions

A seaweed considered a threat to the healthy growth of coral reefs in Hawaii may possess the ability to produce substances that could one day treat human diseases, a new study led by scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego has revealed.

25 May 2012

Gene function preserved despite structural differences in the DNA

Chloroplasts, the plant cell's green solar power generators, were once living beings in their own right. This changed about one billion years ago, when they were swallowed up but not digested by larger cells. Since then, they have lost much of their autonomy.

16 Apr 2012

BGSU chemist uses supercomputer to help unlock benefits of toxic bacteria

Blue-green algae is causing havoc in Midwestern lakes saturated with agricultural run-off, but researchers in a northwest Ohio lab are using supercomputers to study a closely related strain of the toxic cyanobacteria to harness its beneficial properties.

26 Jan 2012

Increase in human activity threatens natural aquatic ecosystems in Tanzania

An increase in human activity is posing a threat to natural aquatic ecosystems in Tanzania and contributing to environmental damage and ecological changes. Doctoral research carried out by Hezron Emmanuel Nonga shows that agriculture and livestock farming leads to eutrophication in lakes and the proliferation of cyanobacteria which produce microcystins.

29 Dec 2011

Researchers modify toxic chemical of marine cycyanobacteria to treat colon cancer

University of Florida researchers have modified a toxic chemical produced by tiny marine microbes and successfully deployed it against laboratory models of colon cancer.

2 Sep 2011

Scientists decipher genome of tropical marine organism

An international team of researchers led by scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego has deciphered the genome of a tropical marine organism known to produce substances potentially useful against human diseases.

10 May 2011

Researchers find blue-green algae may be responsible for producing estrogen-like compound in water

University of Tennessee, Knoxville, researchers have found that blue-green algae may be responsible for producing an estrogen-like compound in the environment which could disrupt the normal activity of reproductive hormones and adversely affect fish, plants and human health.

17 Feb 2011

Unrecognized substances released by algae blooms may act as endocrine disruptors

Scientists are reporting for the first time that previously unrecognized substances released by algae blooms have the potential to act as endocrine disruptors, which can interfere with the normal activity of reproductive hormones. The effect is not caused by microcystin toxins, long recognized as potentially harmful to humans and aquatic animals, but as yet unidentified substances.

17 Feb 2011

Largazole appears to be an ideal blueprint for developing new drugs against bone diseases

One of Mother Nature's latest gifts to medical science is stirring excitement with the discovery that the substance - obtained from a coral-reef inhabiting cyanobacterium - appears to be an ideal blueprint for developing new drugs for serious fractures, osteoporosis, and other bone diseases.

3 Feb 2011

Earthy or musty odors along with cyanobacteria may indicate presence of harmful cyanotoxins in lakes

Earthy or musty odors, along with visual evidence of blue-green algae, also known as cyanobacteria, may serve as a warning that harmful cyanotoxins are present in lakes or reservoirs. In a newly published USGS study of cyanobacterial blooms in Midwest lakes, taste-and-odor compounds were found almost every time cyanotoxins were found, indicating odor may serve as a warning that harmful toxins are present.

14 Sep 2010

Study on cyanobacteria helps understand anesthetic actions

Experiments in one of the oldest forms of life on Earth are helping to answer basic questions about how general anesthesia works, according to a study in the January issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS).

23 Dec 2009

Brain's SCN is the master clock that synchronizes other biological clocks in the body

Alexis Webb enters a small room at Washington University in St. Louis with walls, floor and ceiling painted dark green, shuts the door, turns off the lights and bends over a microscope in a black box draped with black cloth. Through the microscope, she can see a single nerve cell on a glass cover slip glowing dimly.

10 Sep 2009

New compound discovered by Scripps scientists offers a novel template for drug development

Scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and their colleagues at Creighton University have deciphered the highly unusual molecular structure of a naturally produced, ocean-based compound that is giving new understanding of the function of mammalian nerve cells.

29 Aug 2009

Free-living microalgae be used as broad-spectrum automated biosensor systems for continuous monitoring of drinking water

A method to detect contaminants in municipal water supplies has undergone further refinements by two Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers whose findings are published on line in Water Environment Research.

29 Aug 2009

NASA reports that prokaryote fusion is responsible for evolution of life on earth

Humans might not be walking on Earth today if not for the ancient fusing of two microscopic, single-celled organisms called prokaryotes, NASA-funded research has found.

20 Aug 2009

Research links photosynthesis genes to marine virus fitness

A recent Northeastern University study has shown, for the first time, the effect of individual genes on the fitness of a marine species at the ecosystem level.

5 Feb 2009

Nature inspires new highly specific drugs and organic products

The best place to seek novel compounds for pharmaceutical drugs, alternative energy sources, and a host of industrial applications, is within natural systems that have evolved over millions of years.

2 Sep 2008

Researchers find a cancer-inhibiting cyanobacteria that grows on coral reefs

University of Florida College of Pharmacy researchers have discovered a marine compound off the coast of Key Largo that inhibits cancer cell growth in laboratory tests, a finding they hope will fuel the development of new drugs to better battle the disease.

10 Aug 2008

Natural biomedicines from the ocean

With the number of terrestrial sources that yield novel treatments for human disease decreasing year by year, the oceans have been tapped as a promising resource for discovering new natural biomedicines.

20 Mar 2008

New research provides dynamic visualization of simplest circadian clock

Scientists have acquired a more dynamic picture of events that underlie the functions of a bacterial biological clock.

14 Mar 2008