#cyanobacterium

A cyanobacterium caused by blue-green algae blooms has been identified in the waters of Lake Erie. The cyanobacterium is capable of producing a neurotoxin that can attack the central nervous system in humans.

To look at, the object of her passion is just a green mote, floating in vast numbers in the world's oceans. But Chisholm has found hidden complexity within Prochlorococcus, a cyanobacterium that is the smallest, most abundant photosynthesizing cell in the ocean—responsible for 5% of global photosynthesis, by some estimates. Its many different versions, or ecotypes, thrive from the sunlit sea surface to a depth of 200 meters, where light is minimal. Collectively the "species" boasts an estimated 80,000 genes—four times what humans have, and plenty to deal with whatever the world's oceans throw at it. "It's a beautiful little life machine and like a superorganism," Chisholm says. "It's got a story to tell us."

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