Author : Saswati Nayak¹, Radha Prasanna¹ , Boddupalli M. Prasanna² and Dina B. Sahoo³.

Address : (¹Centre for Conservation & Utilization of Blue-Green Algae (CCUBGA), Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, 110012, India, ²Division of Genetics, IARI, New Delhi, 110012, India, ³Department of Botany, Delhi University (North Campus), Delhi, 110007, India. Radha Prasanna, Email: radhapr@gmail.com).

Abstract : Analysing diversity among Indian isolates of Anabaena (Nostocales, Cyanophyta) using morphological, physiological and biochemical characters.

Journal : World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology,

Volume No. : Volume 23(11)

Publish Year : 2007

Page No. : 1575-1584

Main Data : A set of 24 strains belonging to the genus Anabaena (Phylum Cyanobacteria), isolated from diverse geographic locations in India, were evaluated along with three International type strains of Anabaena (ATCC 29414, ATCC 29208 and ATCC 27899) for their morphological, physiological and biochemical diversity. The morphological dataset, consisting of 58 variants for 15 characters, and SDS-PAGE protein profiles comprising 17 polymorphic bands were utilized to differentiate the selected Anabaena strains and explore the patterns of diversity through cluster analysis. Physiological and biochemical characterization with respect to nitrogen fixation and accumulation of chlorophyll and phycobiliproteins led to the identification of some highly promising Anabaena strains for use as biofertilizers and source of pigments. The study highlighted the tremendous inter and intraspecific diversity within the Anabaena isolates and indicated the potential as well as constraints of the morphological and protein profiling datasets for unambiguous differentiation and analyses of diversity among the Anabaena strains. Keywords:   Anabaena  - Diversity - Morphology - Nitrogen fixation - Pigments - Protein profiles