Characterization of Cyanobacterial Picoplankton in Lake Ontario by Transmission Electron Microscopy

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Abstract
Many chroococcoid cyanobacteria from Lake Ontario, characterized by epifluorescence in concert with transmission electron microscopy, had a Type I ultrastructure, the major type in oceanic waters. Such cells had a multilayered cell envelope and their polyhedral bodies were interspersed with the central nuclear material. All thylakoids were peripheral and were arranged concentrically, with no intrusion into the nuclear region. Related chroococcoid types were also seen but these were much less abundant. The most numerous cell type in all water samples was a small, Gram-negative, rodlike bacterium. Many of these rods were sufficiently small to pass a filter of 0.45-μm pore size but none had a diameter less than 0.2 μm. Attempts to isolate and describe the cyanobacterial picoplankton presented some unusual difficulties having a potential to mislead limnological analyses. These are described and, to some extent, they are resolved here.

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