Cyanobacteria: Our oxygen, the TCA cycle, and how blue-green
algae promises biofuel Cyanobacteria (a.k.a blue-green algae)
are a very important phylum of bacteria. Scientists believe that
the bacteria are responsible for helping to create the oxygen
rich atmosphere, which led to the extinction of almost all
oxygen-intolerant organisms and would, eventually, lead to us.
It is responsible for around 20 percent of the world’s total
photosynthesis productivity, and it has the very prestigious
honor of being one of the first photosynthetic organisms to have
its genome completely sequenced. Yet, our ability to use
cyanobacteria for our benefit might be limited by our
misconceived knowledge of the bacteria. Researchers Shuyi Zang
and Donald A. Bryant have published an article in “Science” on
December 16, 2011 that claims our basic understanding of
cyanobacteria’s tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle has been wrong
for almost 4 decades. The TCA cycle is a series of chemical
reactions used by aerobic organisms to generate e