Diversity

During the course of evolution cyanobacteria have adapted to almost every ecological niche, including the most extreme ones. They can be found in freshwater lakes and oceans, as well as in deserts, hot and acidic springs, and even in the arctic ice. The adaptability of cyanobacteria is based on their enormous diversity in species and strains and their ability to synthesise structurally and functionally diverse natural products which they have passed on by horizontal gene transfer to other bacterial species during evolution. Due to this enormous biodiversity among cyanobacteria only a small proportion of cyanobacterial species and their natural products have been characterised to date.