Calcium promotes formation of large colonies of the cyanobacterium Microcystis by enhancing cell-adhesion

Abstract

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Widespread formation of intracellular calcium carbonates by the bloom‐forming cyanobacterium Microcystis

“…This decrease may subsequently induce a limitation of iACC+ Microcystis growth. Interestingly, the role of Ca in Microcystis ecology has been already mentioned in the past, since it has been suggested that high concentrations of Ca (>2.5 mM) may promote the formation of blooms (Chen & Lürling, 2020; Gu et al, 2020). Here, we speculate that Ca has an additional role, that is, feeding the formation of iACC, at least for some Microcystis genotypes/phenotypes biomineralizing iACC.…”

Toxic Algae in Inland Waters of the Conterminous United States—A Review and Synthesis

“…Salinity represents the total sum of dissolved ions in water, and research has shown that the ionic composition and major ion concentrations of surface waters may affect the spatial distribution of inland cyanoHABs, and in some cases, independently of salinity. Cations such as calcium [123][124][125][126][127], magnesium [126,127], and potassium [128] can influence the growth of cyanobacteria in the laboratory. At low concentrations, calcium stimulates unicellular growth of M. aeruginosa with little effect on colony formation, but at high concentrations (especially ≥60 mg L −1 ), calcium inhibits unicellular growth while stimulating colony formation [124,125]-colony formation is considered advantageous for bloom formation [129].…”

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“…This change can then affect the aquatic microbiome. For instance, it is known that Ca 2+ can promote the formation of large colonies of the cyanobacterium Microcystis by enhancing cell-adhesion [30], or that the Ca 2+ concentration also regulates the proliferation and morphology of human tracheobronchial epithelial cell cultures [31]. While highly concentrated CaCl 2 solutions are used for the so-called "calcium chloride transformation" to increase the ability of a prokaryotic cell to incorporate plasmid DNA allowing them to be genetically transformed [32], the role of Ca in these examples is mostly a purely electrostatic one, compensating the negative charges on the cell surfaces and thus facilitating their aggregation.…”