Production of transparent exopolymer particles (TEP) in the nitrogen fixing cyanobacterium <i>Anabaena flos-aquae</i> OL-K10

Abstract

The aim of the study was to measure the transparent exopolymerparticles (TEP) concentration in cultures of Anabaena flos-aquae OL-K10and to determine the relationship between the quantity of particlesproduced and the light intensity, the age of the culture andthe presence of nitrogen in the culture medium. This is the firsttime TEP production has been investigated in the Nostocales,an order of nitrogen-fixing phytoplankton species. The resultsshowed that TEP production depends on the presence of nitrogenin the culture medium. The longer the culture is grown, the higherthe correlation between its TEP content and its chlorophyll aconcentration.

Keywords

• Transparent exopolymer particles (TEP)
• <i>Anabaena flos-aquae</i>
• Chlorophyll <i>a</i> concentration