Anabaena cell ageing monitored with confocal fluorescence spectroscopy

Cyanobacteria use a sophisticated system of pigments to collect light energy across the visible spectrum for photosynthesis. The pigments are assembled in structures called phycobilisomes, composed of phycoerythrocyanin, phycocyanin and allophycocyanin, which absorb energy and transfer it to chlorophyll in photosystem II reaction centres. All of the components of this system are fluorescent, allowing sensitive measurements of energy transfer using single cell confocal fluorescence microscopy. The native pigments can be interrogated without the use of reporters. Here, we use confocal fluorescence microscopy to monitor changes in the efficiency of energy transfer as single cells age, between the time they are born at cell division until they are ready to divide again. Alteration of fluorescence was demonstrated to change with the age of the cyanobacterial cell.