Allelopathic activity of the Baltic picocyanobacterium Synechocystis sp.

Abstract

Allelopathic compounds produced by picocyanobacteria could affect the growth and development of biological systems. The main aim of this study was to investigate the influence of unknown allelochemicals obtained from picocyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. BA-153 in monocultures and in mixed cultures. In this study, we demonstrated that Synechocystis sp. BA-153 caused allelopathic effects against other strains of picocyanobacteria. It was found that Synechocystis sp. BA-121 was strongly inhibited by Synechocystis sp. BA-153 in both the mixed culture and cell-free filtrates. On the other hand, the addition of live picocyanobacterial culture of Synechocystis sp. BA-153 stimulated the growth of Synechocystis sp. BA-122. These results showed the allelopathic activity of Synechocystis sp. BA-153, which can cause either the inhibition or stimulation of growth of selected picoplanktonic cyanobacteria.

Keywords

• allelopathy
• picocyanobacteria
• synechocystis sp.
• growth
• mixed culture
• monoculture