We use cookies to improve your experience, some are essential for the operation of this site.

Electron microscopic image of the cyanobacterium, Crocosphaera watsonii.

Electron microscopic image of the cyanobacterium, Crocosphaera watsonii.
Electron microscopic image of the cyanobacterium, Crocosphaera watsonii.
Electron microscopic image of the cyanobacterium, Crocosphaera watsonii.
Electron microscopic image of the cyanobacterium, Crocosphaera watsonii.
Comments (0)
213312
Waterbury, John and Valois, Frederica
Electron microscopic image of the cyanobacterium, Crocosphaera watsonii.
Still Image
05/23/2012
13502.jpg
This image was only featured in the online version of the article and not the printed magazine version. See below for URL to story.
Image Of the Day caption:
The bacterium, Crocosphaera watsonii (pictured), is one of the few marine microbes that can convert nitrogen gas into organic nitrogen, which acts as fertilizer to stimulate plant growth in the ocean, just as it does on land. But nitrogen conversion is itself limited by iron availability, which is needed for the enzymes that make organic nitrogen. As a result, C. watsonii survives by using a remarkable biochemical trick: It recycles iron. By day, it uses iron for photosynthesis to make carbohydrates; then by night, it appears to reuse the same iron in different enzymes to produce organic nitrogen.
Photo courtesy of John Waterbury and Freddy Valois
© Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
http://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/viewArticle.do?id=87748
Labels
This item includes these files
Image
Image
Collections