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Springer Nature [academic journals on nature.com], The ISME Journal: Multidisciplinary Journal of Microbial Ecology, 5(9), p. 1268-1268, 2015

DOI: 10.1038/ismej.2015.52

Springer Nature [academic journals on nature.com], The ISME Journal: Multidisciplinary Journal of Microbial Ecology, 5(9), p. 1264-1267, 2015

DOI: 10.1038/ismej.2015.21

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Genomic potential for nitrogen assimilation in uncultivated members of Prochlorococcus from an anoxic marine zone

Journal article published in 2015 by Marcia Astorga-Eló, Salvador Ramírez-Flandes, Edward F. DeLong, Osvaldo Ulloa ORCID
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

Cyanobacteria of the genus Prochlorococcus are the most abundant photosynthetic marine organisms and key factors in the global carbon cycle. The understanding of their distribution and ecological importance in oligotrophic tropical and subtropical waters, and their differentiation into distinct ecotypes, is based on genetic and physiological information from several isolates. Currently, all available Prochlorococcus genomes show their incapacity for nitrate utilization. However, environmental sequence data suggest that some uncultivated lineages may have acquired this capacity. Here we report that uncultivated low-light-adapted Prochlorococcus from the nutrient-rich, low-light, anoxic marine zone (AMZ) of the eastern tropical South Pacific have the genetic potential for nitrate uptake and assimilation. All genes involved in this trait were found syntenic with those present in marine Synechococcus. Genomic and phylogenetic analyses also suggest that these genes have not been aquired recently, but perhaps were retained from a common ancestor, highlighting the basal characteristics of the AMZ lineages within Prochlorococcus.The ISME Journal advance online publication, 20 February 2015; doi:10.1038/ismej.2015.21.