A Light and Electron Microscope Study of Interlamellar Polyglucoside Bodies in Oscillatoria Chalybia

Abstract

A light and electron microscopic study of interlamellar granules in Oscillatoria chalybia was made to determine their physiological nature. Oscillatoria chalybia was cultured under continuous light in media of high nitrogen content, moderate nitrogen content and low nitrogen content. Cultures growing vigorously in a medium of moderate nitrogen content were placed in darkness for an additional 96 hr. Periodic acid‐Schiffs reagent tests were made on specimens from these 4 cultural conditions. Electron microscopic studies of interlamellar granules were correlated with the cytochemical tests. It is shown that diastase digestion will eliminate the PAS‐positive substance and the interlamellar granules. Conclusions are that the interlamellar granules are polyglucoside in nature and that they vary in number and size with available nitrogen, light intensity and age of culture in such a way as to indicate that they are food reserves.

Association of the sponge Tethya orphei (Porifera, Demospongiae) with filamentous cyanobacteria

“…The most common arrangement of the thylakoids among Oscillatoriaceae is radial (Giesy 1964; Lamont 1969; Fjerdingstad et al 1976), a feature consistent with the identification of the filamentous cyanobacteria associated with T. orphei as Oscillatoria. On the basis of ultrastructural traits, symbiotic filamentous cyanobacteria associated with the tissues of various sponge species have been attributed to Oscillatoria spongeliae (Vacelet 1981; Larkum et al 1987; Rützler 1990).…”

Cytochemical Ultrastructure of Peltigera Canina: some Features Related to its symbiosis

“…Storage products: Polyglucoside granules have been recognized in free-living blue-green algae (Giesy 1964;Thomas 1972), but were not observed in some lichenized cyanophytes by Paran et al (1971). This non-detection could have been due to a quick passage of glucose from the phycobiont to the mycobiont as polyglucoside granules have been detected in the phycobiont of Peltigera (Boissiere 19726) and subsequently also in various other lichenized blue-green algae.…”

Physiological Aspects of Symbiotic Associations between Fungi and other Plants

“…Similarly, Peat (1968) noted the absence of a-granules from the Nostoc phycobiont of Peltigera polydactyla. These granules, abundant in several free-living blue-green algae, have been shown by Giesy (1964) to be a polyglucoside resembling glycogen. It should, however, be noted that the lichen material used in both these studies had been kept under conditions conducive to depletion of polysaccharides, particularly in the algae (P. polydactyla: 2 days in a polythene bag before fixation; Cornicularia normoerica: dried, kept for 4 weeks in a refrigerator and moistened for 24 hr before fixation).…”