Effect of nitrogen starvation on the morphology and ultrastructure of the cyanobacterium Mastigocladus laminosus.

The effects of nitrogen starvation on the morphology and ultrastructure of the branching, filamentous cyanobacterium Mastigocladus laminosus were examined with light and electron microscopy. The internal ultrastructural characteristics of vegetative cells changed markedly during nitrogen starvation. Carboxysomes were degraded, while polyphosphate bodies and lipid bodies accumulated. The ultrastructure of mature heterocysts was also affected by nitrogen starvation; their intracytoplasmic membranes vesiculated to form vacuolelike structures and, eventually, large empty regions in the cytoplasm. Nitrogen starvation stimulated extensive heterocyst differentiation in M. laminosus, producing heterocyst frequencies of 17.5% in narrow filaments and 28.3% in wide filaments within 44 h after transfer to N-free conditions. Cells in wide filaments differentiated so extensively that only 16.8% of them failed to initiate the differentiation process within 44 h.