Elemental Composition of C, N and P in Single Cells of Three Filamentous Cyanobacteria Using Nmp (Nuclear Microprobe) and Traditional Techniques

Abstract

Intracellular contents of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus in phytoplankton cells are traditionally measured using concentrates containing thousands to millions of cells. In this study we have used a Nuclear MicroProbe (NMP) as an approach for the determination of C, N and P concentrations in single filaments of three cyanobacteria species: Anabaena sp., Nodularia spumigena and Aphanizomenon flos-aquae var. klebahnii isolated from Baltic Sea water. Estimations of C, N and P content per cell have been calculated and compared with the concentrations found with traditional bulk methods. No significant differences regarding the C, N and P cellular content were found between the two methods for each of the species tested. From our results we conclude that the use of NMP can be a useful tool for studying the elemental contents in single phytoplankton cells occurring among several thousands of other cells of different species in field samples.