Abstract
The collection of Cyanobacteria from nature, isolation of pure cultures, and large-scale culture techniques are prerequisites for detailed studies. A plankton net is generally used to obtain concentrated collections from natural waters. Replicates of the concentrated collections are placed directly into several standard liquid mineral media in the field. The mixed cultures are brought to the laboratory and streaked on 0.75 to 1.00% agar plates of the several mineral media. After a suitable incubation, individual colonies are transferred to their respective liquid mineral media. Alternation of the agar plating and liquid culture is continued until axenic cultures are obtained. Other techniques are available for obtaining axenic cultures if required. Purifications from lake bottom sediments may provide a source of Cyanobacteria absent from the waters. Culture collections can furnish important organisms for study. Large-scale culture of Cyanobacteria is conveniently achieved by simple continuous culture techniques in 20 liter glass or polypropylene bottles.
Axenic Cyanobacteria rapidly growing in large-scale cultures permit an assessment of nutritional and environmental factors on their physiology, biochemistry, and toxin production.
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© 1981 Plenum Press, New York
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Court, G.J., Kycia, J.H., Siegelman, H.W. (1981). Collection, Purification, and Culture of Cyanobacteria. In: Carmichael, W.W. (eds) The Water Environment. Environmental Science Research. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-3267-1_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-3267-1_13
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