Nostoc punctiforme

{{Short description|Species of bacterium}}

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| image = Nostoc_punctiforme.png

| image_alt =

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| genus = Nostoc

| species = punctiforme

| authority = (Kütz.) Har.

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Nostoc punctiforme is a species of filamentous cyanobacterium. Under non-limiting nutritional environmental conditions, its filaments are composed of photosynthetic vegetative cells; upon nutrient limitation, some of these cells undergo differentiation into heterocysts, akinetes or hormogonia.{{cite journal|last=Meeks|first=JC|author2=EL Campbell |author3=ML Summers |author4=FC Wong |title=Cellular differentiation in the cyanobacterium Nostoc punctiforme|journal=Arch Microbiol|year=2002|volume=178|issue=6|pages=395–403|doi=10.1007/s00203-002-0476-5|pmid=12420158|s2cid=17609733 }}

N. punctiforme is one of the Nostoc strains able to maintain diazotrophic symbiosis with higher plants such as the bryophytes Anthocerus punctatus and Blasia pusilla, water ferns from the genus Azolla, the cycads Macrozamia spp., and the angiosperm Gunnera.{{cite journal|last=Meeks|first=JC|title=Symbiosis between Nitrogen-Fixing Cyanobacteria and Plants. They grow with the help of water.|journal=BioScience|year=1998|volume=48|issue=4|pages=266–276|jstor=1313353|doi=10.2307/1313353|doi-access=free}}

Applications:

Modified Nostoc punctiforme intein (Npu DnaE split intein) is used for a self-cleaving protein purification (e.g. iCapTag™).{{Cite journal |last1=Cooper |first1=Merideth A. |last2=Taris |first2=Joseph E. |last3=Shi |first3=Changhua |last4=Wood |first4=David W. |date=2018 |title=A Convenient Split‐Intein Tag Method for the Purification of Tagless Target Proteins |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cpps.46 |journal=Current Protocols in Protein Science |language=en |volume=91 |issue=1 |pages=5.29.1–5.29.23 |doi=10.1002/cpps.46 |pmid=29516483 |s2cid=3749506 |issn=1934-3655|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite journal |last1=Prabhala |first1=Sai Vivek |last2=Gierach |first2=Izabela |last3=Wood |first3=David W. |date=2022 |title=The Evolution of Intein-Based Affinity Methods as Reflected in 30 years of Patent History |journal=Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences |volume=9 |page=857566 |doi=10.3389/fmolb.2022.857566 |pmid=35463948 |pmc=9033041 |issn=2296-889X|doi-access=free }}