Diverse community of rhizobia-diatom symbioses fixes nitrogen in the South Pacific gyre.

ABSTRACT: Nitrogen fixation is crucial for sustaining productivity in most of the open ocean. Cyanobacteria are the most prominent N₂-fixers, but based on the nifH gene, a marker gene of the enzyme that fixes N₂ into ammonia, non-cyanobacterial N₂-fixers often predominate the N₂-fixing community. Yet, the vast majority of them remain poorly characterized. In the oligotrophic South Pacific gyre, we found that most nifH gene sequences belonged to non-cyanobacterial N₂-fixers that dominated the waters with measurable N₂ fixation rates. Approximately two thirds of the non-cyanobacterial sequences affiliated with the group "Marine 1" which also contains the recently identified diatom symbiont Ca. Tectiglobus diatomicol

SUBMITTER: Esti M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12667272 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature