Culture isolation and culture-independent clone libraries reveal new marine Synechococcus ecotypes with distinctive light and N physiologies.

@article{citeulike:1815491, abstract = {Marine microbial communities often contain multiple closely related phylogenetic clades, but in many cases, it is still unclear what physiological traits differentiate these putative ecotypes. The numerically abundant marine cyanobacterium Synechococcus can be divided into at least 14 clades. In order to better understand ecotype differentiation in this genus, we assessed the diversity of a Synechococcus community from a well-mixed water column in the Sargasso Sea during March 2002, a time of year when this genus typically reaches its annual peak in abundance. Diversity was estimated from water sampled at three depths (approximately 5, 70, and 170 m) using both culture isolation and construction of cyanobacterial 16S-23S rRNA internal transcribed sequence clone libraries. Clonal isolates were obtained by enrichment with ammonium, nitrite, or nitrate as the sole N source, followed by pour plating. Each method sampled the in situ diversity differently. The combined methods revealed a total of seven Synechococcus phylotypes including two new putative ecotypes, labeled XV and XVI. Although most other isolates grow on nitrate, clade XV exhibited a reduced efficiency in nitrate utilization, and both clade XV and XVI are capable of chromatic adaptation, demonstrating that this trait is more widely distributed among Synechococcus strains than previously known. Thus, as in its sister genus Prochlorococcus, light and nitrogen utilization are important factors in ecotype differentiation in the marine Synechococcus lineage.}, address = {School of Oceanography, University of Washington, Box 357940, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.}, author = {Ahlgren, N. A. and Rocap, G. }, citeulike-article-id = {1815491}, doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/AEM.00358-06}, issn = {0099-2240}, journal = {Appl Environ Microbiol}, keywords = {culture, ecotype, light, marine, microbial-ecology, phylogeny, physiology, synechococcus}, month = {November}, number = {11}, pages = {7193--7204}, posted-at = {2007-10-24 14:59:49}, priority = {0}, title = {Culture isolation and culture-independent clone libraries reveal new marine Synechococcus ecotypes with distinctive light and N physiologies.}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/AEM.00358-06}, volume = {72}, year = {2006} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:1815491 L3 - citeulike-article-id:1815491 TI - Culture isolation and culture-independent clone libraries reveal new marine Synechococcus ecotypes with distinctive light and N physiologies. JF - Appl Environ Microbiol VL - 72 IS - 11 SP - 7193 EP - 7204 AD - School of Oceanography, University of Washington, Box 357940, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. SN - 0099-2240 N2 - Marine microbial communities often contain multiple closely related phylogenetic clades, but in many cases, it is still unclear what physiological traits differentiate these putative ecotypes. The numerically abundant marine cyanobacterium Synechococcus can be divided into at least 14 clades. In order to better understand ecotype differentiation in this genus, we assessed the diversity of a Synechococcus community from a well-mixed water column in the Sargasso Sea during March 2002, a time of year when this genus typically reaches its annual peak in abundance. Diversity was estimated from water sampled at three depths (approximately 5, 70, and 170 m) using both culture isolation and construction of cyanobacterial 16S-23S rRNA internal transcribed sequence clone libraries. Clonal isolates were obtained by enrichment with ammonium, nitrite, or nitrate as the sole N source, followed by pour plating. Each method sampled the in situ diversity differently. The combined methods revealed a total of seven Synechococcus phylotypes including two new putative ecotypes, labeled XV and XVI. Although most other isolates grow on nitrate, clade XV exhibited a reduced efficiency in nitrate utilization, and both clade XV and XVI are capable of chromatic adaptation, demonstrating that this trait is more widely distributed among Synechococcus strains than previously known. Thus, as in its sister genus Prochlorococcus, light and nitrogen utilization are important factors in ecotype differentiation in the marine Synechococcus lineage. KW - culture KW - ecotype KW - light KW - marine KW - microbial-ecology KW - phylogeny KW - physiology KW - synechococcus AU - Ahlgren, NA AU - Rocap, G PY - 2006/11// UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/AEM.00358-06 ER -