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Name derivation:
Classification:
Lyngbya C.Agardh ex Gomont 1892; 98 of 1004 species descriptions are currently accepted taxonomically (Guiry and Guiry 2013). Order Oscillatoriales; Family Oscillatoriaceae Synonyms: Leibleinia and Heteroleibleinia L. Hoffmann 1905 are sections of Lyngbya (Geitler 1932). Synonym: Loefgrenia, reported from Australia (Day et al. 1995). Synonym in PhycoKey:  Limnoraphis (Komarek et al. 2013)
Diazotrophy – Nitrogen fixation without heterocysts:
Similar to other filamentous cyanobacteria e.g. Trichodesmium, Oscillatoria and Microcoleus, Lyngbya can fix nitrogen under aerobic conditions, perhaps only at night in the absence of photosynthesis. Still other genera can do so under micro-aerobic or anoxic conditions.
Morphology:
Thick and straight trichomes enclosed in firm sheath that usually occur in mats. Filaments are usually Unbranched, or sometimes with false branching. Cells are distinctively shorter than wide (discoid). Apical cells usually have a calyptra (thickened outer wall). Form motile hormogonia. No heterocysts.
Similar genera:
Oscillatoria 's trichomes are straight and formed of discoid cells, but they lack sheaths.
Habitat:
Most species are benthic, forming mats on various substrata, or grow around plants in fresh, brackish and marine waters. Some also grow on wet rocks. Few are planktonic solitary filaments. Planktonic species have been moved to Limnoraphis (Komarek et al. 2013) but are retained as Lyngbya in PhycoKey. The marine species Lyngbya aestuarii is euryhaline (10 – 30 ppt was tested) and has a tolerates a broad range of pH (6 – 8 was tested) (Shruthi and Rajashekhar 2014).
Known toxins :
Lyngbya wollei is common in the southeastern USA and produces a toxin similar to saxitoxin and neosaxitoxin (Carmichael et al. 1997). Strains from NE Australia of L. wollei, separated into a new genus Microseira, produce cylindrospermopsin (McGregor and Sendall (doi:10.1111/jpy.12256-13-117). L. majuscula produces a toxin that causes acute dermatitis in humans (Osborne et al. 2001), and the lipid curacin A that is beneficial to humans (see below) but is highly toxic to brine shrimp (Gerwick et al. 1994).
Anti-cancer lipid curacin A:
Lyngbya majuscula collected in Curaçao produces an antimitotic 23-carbon lipid that inhibits microtubule assembly and binding of colchine to tubulin. Curacin A shows some selectivity for colon, kidney and breast cancer-derived cells (Ibid.).
References:
Carmichael, W.W., W.R. Evans, Q.Q. Yin, P. Bell, and E. Moczydlowski 1997. Evidence for paralytic shellfish poisons in the freshwater cyanobacterium Lyngbya wollei (Farlow ex Gomont) comb. nov. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 63(8):3104-3110. Day, S.A., Wickham, R.P., Entwisle, T.J. and Tyler, P.A. 1995. Bibliographic check-list of non-marine algae in Australia. Flora of Australia Supplementary Series 4: i-vii, 1-276. Geitler, L. 1932. Cyanophyceae. Johnson Reprint Corporation, NY, London. [Cyanophyceae von Europe, a part of Rabenhorst’s Kryptogamen-Flora von Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz.] Gerwick, W.H., P.J. Proteau, D.G. Nagle, E. Hamel, A. Blokhin and D.L. Slate 1994. Structure of Curacin A, a novel antimitotic, antiproliferative, and brine shrimp toxic natural product from the marine cyanobacterium Lyngbya majuscula. Journal of Organic Chemistry 59:1243-1245. Gomont, M. (1892 '1893'). Monographie des Oscillariées (Nostocacées homocystées). Annales des Sciences Naturelles, Botanique, Series 7 16: 91-264, Plates 1-7. Guiry, M.D. G.M. Guiry 2013. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. http://www.algaebase.org; searched on 25 February 2013. Hoffmann, L. 1905. Quelques remarques sur la classification des Oscillatoriaceae. Cryptogamie, Algologie6: 71-79. Komárek, J., Zapomělová, E, Šmarda, J., Kopecký,J., Rejmánková,E., Woodhouse, J.6, Brett Neilan, B.A. and Jaroslava Komárková,J. 2013. Polyphasic evaluation of Limnoraphis robusta, a water–bloom forming cyanobacterium from Lake Atitlán, Guatemala, with a description of Limnoraphis gen. nov. Fottea, Olomouc, 13(1): 39–52, 2013 McGregor, G.B. and B.C. Sendall 2014. Phylogeny and toxicology of Lyngbya wollei (Cyanobacteria/Oscillatoriales) from north-eastern Australia, with a description of Microseira gen. nov. Journal of Phycology doi:10.1111/jpy.12256-13-117 (accepted for publication). Osborne, N.J.T., P.M. Webb and G.R. Shaw 2001. The toxins of Lyngbya majuscula and their human and ecological health effects. Environment Intrernational 278:381-392. Shruthi, M.S. and M. Rajashekhar 2014. Effect of salinity and pH on the growth and biomass production in the four species of estuarine cyanobacteria. Journal of Algal Biomass Utilization 5(4):29-36.
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