Nostoc

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Nostoc
Nostoc commune

Nostoc commune

Systematics
Domain : Bacteria (bacteria)
Department : Cyanobacteria ("Cyanobacteria")
Class : Cyanobacteria (Cyanobacteria)
Order : Nostocales
Family : Nostocaceae
Genre : Nostoc
Scientific name
Nostoc
Vaucher ex Bornet & Flahault

Nostoc is a genus of cyanobacteria that form spherical or skin-like colonies from long, unbranched cell cords in a gelatinous shell. They containgreen dyesin the cytoplasm and photosynthesize . Specialized heterocysts within the cell chains are responsible for binding nitrogen. Nostoc was named“ Microbe of the Year 2014” bythe Association for General and Applied Microbiology .

Occurrence

There are Nostoc species that live in bodies of water, for example at the bottom of freshwater ponds and springs (see, for example, pond plum ). They are also very rarely found in salt water. Nostoc colonies can also be found outside of water, including on paths and stones. When dry, the colonies are paper thin. When water is added, for example after a rain shower, they swell to a gelatinous mass.

Many Nostoc species live in symbiosis with plants or fungi. For example, they occur as phytobionts in lichens . Furthermore, they can live within the water fern Azolla and in hornworts . Different Nostoc strains live in symbiosis with representatives of the tropical plant genus Gunnera . The symbiosis partners benefit from the ability of the cyanobacteria to reduce atmospheric nitrogen to ammonium .

Systematics

Pond plums ( Nostoc pruniforme )

Nostoc belongs to the Nostocaceae family ; here is a selection of some types:

  • Nostoc sp., Cell threads

  • Nostoc sp.

  • Nostoc sp.

  • Nostoc sp.

  • Nostoc azollae , cell filaments

  • Nostoc flagelliforme ("fat choy")

  • Nostoc flagelliforme , cell threads

history

Illustration of “Sterngeschütz” in the small distilling book

Hieronymus Brunschwig

In the first edition (1500) of his small distilling book , Hieronymus Brunschwig described "Sterngeschütz" as

“... a change like a tanden galreyen or ſultzen wachſen / glottern ligend vff eychnem holtz dz ab gehouwen iſt vnd ​​wants to fulen. Other holtz me vff resembled the laying old ackern or egerden do vil weckolter ſtond eyner green colors ſwave something vff the earth like a galrey. "

Brunschwig recommended the water distilled from "Sterngeschütz" as a particularly tried and tested means for external wound treatment. Hermann Fischer saw in Brunschwig's description a first mention of the Lohblüte and Nostoc commune. The chapter on Sterngeschütz was omitted in later editions of the Small Distilling Book.

Paracelsus

In the 16th century, Nostoc and Fuligo species were known as " Sterngeschoz " or " Sterngeschütz ". The observation that especially the Nostoc species swell up after a thunderstorm and suddenly become visible, led Paracelsus to the interpretation that they are fiery bodies that are thrown off by the stars and that as soon as they touch the earth,

"... jrdiſch ſind ind no more / ſbut an ſultze and a ſchleim / like red colors or yellow colored frogs."

Paracelsus gave these "Sterngeschützen" the name "Nostoch".

literature

  • Heiko Bellmann / Klaus Hausmann / Klaus Janke / Bruno P. Kremer / Heinz Schneider: unicellular organisms and invertebrates. Without molluscs and arthropods . Steinbach's natural guide, Mosaik-Verlag, Munich 1991. ISBN 3-576-06495-8
  • Walter K. Dodds, Dolly A. Gudder, Dieter Mollenhauer The Ecology of Nostoc. In: Journal of Phycology. Volume 31, No. 1, 1995, pp. 2-18

Web links

Commons : Nostoc  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ [1]
  2. ↑ Genetic diversity of Nostoc microsymbionts from Gunnera tinctoria revealed by PCR-STRR fingerprinting R Guevara, JJ Armesto, M Caru - Microbial ecology, 2002 - Springer (eng) (pdf)  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.socbotanica.cl  
  3. ↑ German dictionary. Galrei
  4. ↑ German dictionary. Gawk
  5. ↑ German dictionary. Egert
  6. ↑ Hieronymus Brunschwig. Liber de arte distillandi de simplicibus. Strasbourg 1500, sheet 100r-v (digitized version )
  7. ↑ Hermann Fischer . Medieval botany. Verlag der Münchner Drucke, Munich 1929, p. 112, no. 27
  8. ↑ German dictionary. Sterngeschoz
  9. ↑ German dictionary. Sulze 3)
  10. ↑ Paracelsus: The book Meteorum . Cologne 1566, p. 63: Caput X. De exhalationibus (digitized version ) .
  11. ^ Also: Heinrich Marzell : Dictionary of German Plant Names. Hirzel, Leipzig 1943-1958, vol. II, col. 504-505: Fuligo septica and vol. III, col. 335-338: Nostoc commune.
  12. ↑ Malcom Potts: Etymology of the Genus Name Nostoc (Cyanobacteria). In: International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology, Apr. 1997, p. 584