Pub Date : 2021-10-07DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.98859
Ayesha Algade Amadu, Kweku Amoako Atta deGraft-Johnson, Gabriel Komla Ameka
Cyanobacteria also known as blue-green algae are oxygenic photoautotrophs, which evolved ca. 3.5 billion years ago. Because cyanobacteria are rich sources of bioactive compounds, they have diverse industrial applications such as algaecides, antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal agents, hence, their wide use in the agricultural and health sectors. Cyanobacterial secondary metabolites are also important sources of enzymes, toxins, vitamins, and other pharmaceuticals. Polyhydroxy- alkanoates (PHA) which accumulate intracellularly in some cyanobacteria species can be used in the production of bioplastics that have properties comparable to polypropylene and polyethylene. Some cyanobacteria are also employed in bioremediation as they are capable of oxidizing oil components and other complex organic compounds. There are many more possible industrial applications of cyanobacteria such as biofuel, biofertilizer, food, nutraceuticals, and pharmaceuticals. Additionally, the metabolic pathways that lead to the production of important cyanobacterial bioactive compounds are outlined in the chapter along with commercial products currently available on the market.
{"title":"Industrial Applications of Cyanobacteria","authors":"Ayesha Algade Amadu, Kweku Amoako Atta deGraft-Johnson, Gabriel Komla Ameka","doi":"10.5772/intechopen.98859","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.98859","url":null,"abstract":"Cyanobacteria also known as blue-green algae are oxygenic photoautotrophs, which evolved ca. 3.5 billion years ago. Because cyanobacteria are rich sources of bioactive compounds, they have diverse industrial applications such as algaecides, antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal agents, hence, their wide use in the agricultural and health sectors. Cyanobacterial secondary metabolites are also important sources of enzymes, toxins, vitamins, and other pharmaceuticals. Polyhydroxy- alkanoates (PHA) which accumulate intracellularly in some cyanobacteria species can be used in the production of bioplastics that have properties comparable to polypropylene and polyethylene. Some cyanobacteria are also employed in bioremediation as they are capable of oxidizing oil components and other complex organic compounds. There are many more possible industrial applications of cyanobacteria such as biofuel, biofertilizer, food, nutraceuticals, and pharmaceuticals. Additionally, the metabolic pathways that lead to the production of important cyanobacterial bioactive compounds are outlined in the chapter along with commercial products currently available on the market.","PeriodicalId":146976,"journal":{"name":"Cyanobacteria - Recent Advances in Taxonomy, Ecology and Applications [Working Title]","volume":"251 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129077903","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-08-13DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.98521
Laxmi Parwani, Mansi Shrivastava, Jaspreet Singh
The wound care market is rapidly expanding due to the development of innumerable dressings that exhibit specific healing requirements for different wound types. The use of biomaterials as suitable wound dressing material is highly advantageous due to their biocompatibility, biodegradability, and non-toxicity. Cyanobacteria have been widely explored for their potential applications in wound healing, as they are the rich source of bioactive compounds with antibacterial, antitumor, antiviral, antioxidant, and antifungal activities. In recent years this group of organisms has been widely studied due to their immense potential in biomedical applications. Although their different bioactivities can support wound healing in different ways, very few forms have proven utility as a wound-healing agent. This chapter gives an insight into the potential of cyanobacteria in wound healing. Different bioactive compounds present in variable forms of cyanobacteria and their associated activities were reported to support tissue regeneration and wound healing acceleration. As the demand for cost-effective, bioactive wound care products is ever increasing, these organisms have immense potential to be utilized for the development of bioactive wound dressings. Hence, various bioactive compounds of cyanobacteria, their associated activities, and roles in wound healing have been briefly reviewed in this chapter.
{"title":"Potential of Cyanobacteria in Wound Healing","authors":"Laxmi Parwani, Mansi Shrivastava, Jaspreet Singh","doi":"10.5772/intechopen.98521","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.98521","url":null,"abstract":"The wound care market is rapidly expanding due to the development of innumerable dressings that exhibit specific healing requirements for different wound types. The use of biomaterials as suitable wound dressing material is highly advantageous due to their biocompatibility, biodegradability, and non-toxicity. Cyanobacteria have been widely explored for their potential applications in wound healing, as they are the rich source of bioactive compounds with antibacterial, antitumor, antiviral, antioxidant, and antifungal activities. In recent years this group of organisms has been widely studied due to their immense potential in biomedical applications. Although their different bioactivities can support wound healing in different ways, very few forms have proven utility as a wound-healing agent. This chapter gives an insight into the potential of cyanobacteria in wound healing. Different bioactive compounds present in variable forms of cyanobacteria and their associated activities were reported to support tissue regeneration and wound healing acceleration. As the demand for cost-effective, bioactive wound care products is ever increasing, these organisms have immense potential to be utilized for the development of bioactive wound dressings. Hence, various bioactive compounds of cyanobacteria, their associated activities, and roles in wound healing have been briefly reviewed in this chapter.","PeriodicalId":146976,"journal":{"name":"Cyanobacteria - Recent Advances in Taxonomy, Ecology and Applications [Working Title]","volume":"31 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-08-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114619549","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-07-15DOI: 10.5772/INTECHOPEN.97701
Jian Yuan, K. Yoon
Although cyanobacteria are essential microorganisms on earth, some cyanobacteria produce toxins known as cyanotoxins, threatening humans and animals’ health. Hence, it is imperative to rapidly and accurately identify those toxic cyanobacteria. Unfortunately, traditional microscopic methods have limitations for accurate identification due to the lack of discernable morphological difference between toxic and non-toxic strains within the same cyanobacterial species or genus. In contrast, their genetic profiles are inherently conserved; therefore, nucleic acid-based assays can be more reliable for precise identification. Furthermore, molecular assays can provide high throughput and significantly reduce the turnaround time of test results. Such advantages make those assays a preferred method for rapid detection and early warning of potential toxicity. Toxigenic cyanobacterial species have synthetase genes (DNAs) for toxin production, which can be excellent marker genes. Numerous molecular assays targeting cyanotoxin synthetase genes have been developed for the identification of toxigenic cyanobacteria at various taxonomic levels. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based assays are the most prevailing. Among different versions of PCR assays, the real-time quantitative PCR can be utilized to quantify the genes of interest in samples, fulfilling the purpose of both taxonomic recognition and biomass estimation. Reverse transcription (RT)-PCR assays can be used to detect transcripts (i.e., mRNAs) from toxin synthetase genes, probably enhancing the predictive value of PCR detection for toxin production from observed cyanobacterial species. Nevertheless, the utility of toxin synthetase gene- or its transcript-based PCR assays for routine cyanotoxin monitoring needs to be further evaluated on a large scale.
{"title":"Overview of PCR Methods Applied for the Identification of Freshwater Toxigenic Cyanobacteria","authors":"Jian Yuan, K. Yoon","doi":"10.5772/INTECHOPEN.97701","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5772/INTECHOPEN.97701","url":null,"abstract":"Although cyanobacteria are essential microorganisms on earth, some cyanobacteria produce toxins known as cyanotoxins, threatening humans and animals’ health. Hence, it is imperative to rapidly and accurately identify those toxic cyanobacteria. Unfortunately, traditional microscopic methods have limitations for accurate identification due to the lack of discernable morphological difference between toxic and non-toxic strains within the same cyanobacterial species or genus. In contrast, their genetic profiles are inherently conserved; therefore, nucleic acid-based assays can be more reliable for precise identification. Furthermore, molecular assays can provide high throughput and significantly reduce the turnaround time of test results. Such advantages make those assays a preferred method for rapid detection and early warning of potential toxicity. Toxigenic cyanobacterial species have synthetase genes (DNAs) for toxin production, which can be excellent marker genes. Numerous molecular assays targeting cyanotoxin synthetase genes have been developed for the identification of toxigenic cyanobacteria at various taxonomic levels. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based assays are the most prevailing. Among different versions of PCR assays, the real-time quantitative PCR can be utilized to quantify the genes of interest in samples, fulfilling the purpose of both taxonomic recognition and biomass estimation. Reverse transcription (RT)-PCR assays can be used to detect transcripts (i.e., mRNAs) from toxin synthetase genes, probably enhancing the predictive value of PCR detection for toxin production from observed cyanobacterial species. Nevertheless, the utility of toxin synthetase gene- or its transcript-based PCR assays for routine cyanotoxin monitoring needs to be further evaluated on a large scale.","PeriodicalId":146976,"journal":{"name":"Cyanobacteria - Recent Advances in Taxonomy, Ecology and Applications [Working Title]","volume":"11 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122329565","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-03-28DOI: 10.5772/INTECHOPEN.97151
T. A. Caires, H. M. Affe
Brazil has 10.959 km of coastline which includes three ecoregions based on the biogeographic system, exhibiting a wide range of environments that favor the occurrence of numerous cyanobacterial morpho- and ecotypes. These organisms have a great adaptive capacity, which explains their occupancy in numerous environments and the high diversification of the group. Historically, the cyanobacteria have been classified only based on morphology, which makes their taxonomy quite challenging. There is usually little morphological variation between taxa, which makes it difficult to identify diacritical characteristics between some genera and species, making intergeneric and intraspecific delimitation tough. Thereby, the polyphasic approach based on different tools allows the identification of new taxa and the reassessment of those already established with more reliability, contributing to a better systematic resolution of the world ‘cyanoflora’, a term that we propose herein to describe the diversity of Cyanobacteria into Phycoflora area. However, the use of these tools is still not widely applied to most genera and species, especially those from tropical and subtropical environments, which has limited the real recognition of their biodiversity, as well as the knowledge about the cyanobacteria’s evolutionary history and biogeography. In Brazil, even with the great development of phycological studies, the knowledge about Cyanobacteria from marine benthic environments has not evolved to the same degree. This phylum has been neglected in floristic surveys, presenting only 46 benthic species reported to the long Brazilian coastline, evidencing the still incipient knowledge about the diversity and distribution of this microorganism’s group. Furthermore, biotechnological properties of Brazilian marine cyanobacteria are still almost completely unknown, with only three studies carried out to date, underestimating one of the most diverse groups and with promising potential for the possibility of isolating new biochemically active compounds. The ten new taxa related to the Brazilian coast in the last decade emphasizes the challenge of conducting further floristic surveys in the underexplored marine environments in order to fill an important lacune in the cyanoflora knowledge, as well as their biogeographic distribution and biotechnological potential. Besides, the recognition of the Brazilian cyanoflora makes an important contribution to the understanding of the functioning and monitoring of marine ecosystems and provide data for the construction of future public policies, which is a goal of the United Nations Decade for Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.
{"title":"Brazilian Coast: A Significant Gap in the Knowledge of Cyanobacteria and Their Applications","authors":"T. A. Caires, H. M. Affe","doi":"10.5772/INTECHOPEN.97151","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5772/INTECHOPEN.97151","url":null,"abstract":"Brazil has 10.959 km of coastline which includes three ecoregions based on the biogeographic system, exhibiting a wide range of environments that favor the occurrence of numerous cyanobacterial morpho- and ecotypes. These organisms have a great adaptive capacity, which explains their occupancy in numerous environments and the high diversification of the group. Historically, the cyanobacteria have been classified only based on morphology, which makes their taxonomy quite challenging. There is usually little morphological variation between taxa, which makes it difficult to identify diacritical characteristics between some genera and species, making intergeneric and intraspecific delimitation tough. Thereby, the polyphasic approach based on different tools allows the identification of new taxa and the reassessment of those already established with more reliability, contributing to a better systematic resolution of the world ‘cyanoflora’, a term that we propose herein to describe the diversity of Cyanobacteria into Phycoflora area. However, the use of these tools is still not widely applied to most genera and species, especially those from tropical and subtropical environments, which has limited the real recognition of their biodiversity, as well as the knowledge about the cyanobacteria’s evolutionary history and biogeography. In Brazil, even with the great development of phycological studies, the knowledge about Cyanobacteria from marine benthic environments has not evolved to the same degree. This phylum has been neglected in floristic surveys, presenting only 46 benthic species reported to the long Brazilian coastline, evidencing the still incipient knowledge about the diversity and distribution of this microorganism’s group. Furthermore, biotechnological properties of Brazilian marine cyanobacteria are still almost completely unknown, with only three studies carried out to date, underestimating one of the most diverse groups and with promising potential for the possibility of isolating new biochemically active compounds. The ten new taxa related to the Brazilian coast in the last decade emphasizes the challenge of conducting further floristic surveys in the underexplored marine environments in order to fill an important lacune in the cyanoflora knowledge, as well as their biogeographic distribution and biotechnological potential. Besides, the recognition of the Brazilian cyanoflora makes an important contribution to the understanding of the functioning and monitoring of marine ecosystems and provide data for the construction of future public policies, which is a goal of the United Nations Decade for Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.","PeriodicalId":146976,"journal":{"name":"Cyanobacteria - Recent Advances in Taxonomy, Ecology and Applications [Working Title]","volume":"3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131724189","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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