Extracellular cyanobacterial substances inhibit microbial growth

Cyanobacteria are able to produce extracellular substances with different biological activities and behaviors. The marine cyanobacteria Anabaena sp. strain Hi 26 and Oscillatoria subtilissima strain Bo 62 cause significant color changes in their growth media, while viscosity of the medium is influenced by Rivularia sp. strain Bo 85 and Oscillatoria limnetica strain Flo 1. Sterile-filtered media, pregrown with the organisms mentioned above, were used to study the influence of changes in media bioactivity induced by “excreted substances” on the growth and/or morphological development of five related filamentous cyanobacterial species and on selected heterotrophic microorganisms. Cell lysis, empty sheaths, different lengths of filaments, or even single cells and a decrease in chlorophyll a and protein content were the characteristic changes obtained by such a “cyanobacterial assay.” The use of a “precultured” medium, as demonstrated in an “agar diffusion assay,” affects in varying degrees the growth of gram-positive and gram-negative heterotrophic bacteria, as well as of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae