The ultrastructure of immobilised desiccated cells of the cyanobacterium Nostoc commune UTEX 584

Cells of the cyanobacterium Nostoc commune UTEX 584 were immobilised, subjected to acute matric water stress (ψ_m = −128 MPa) and then desiccated. Their ultrastructure was investigated by the use of an anhydrous fixation procedure. Although shrunken and bleached, the integrity of the vegatative cells at the ultrastructural level was apparently preserved. The ease with which certain cyanobacterial cells can recover from desiccation may be consequent upon the maintenance of cellular organisation at the ultrastructural level.