Induction, Isolation and Counting of Akinetes in Aphanizomenon ovalisporum

Akinetes are spore-like resting (dormant) cells formed by strains of filamentous cyanobacteria for surviving long periods of unfavorable conditions. During deprivation for potassium, vegetative photosynthetic cells along the filaments of the cyanobacterium Aphanizomenon ovalisporum (A. ovalisporum) (strain ILC-164) differentiate into akinetes. Akinetes are larger than vegetative cell, have a thick wall, accumulate storage compounds (cyanophycine, glycogen, lipids) and excess of DNA (Sukenik et al., 2015; Sukenik et al., 2007; Maldener et al., 2014). Differences in structure and composition between akinetes and vegetative cells allow separation and isolation of akinetes. Akinetes isolated by the described protocol can be utilized for protein analysis, measurements of metabolic activities, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) studies and more.