Global distribution patterns of distinct clades of the photosynthetic picoeukaryote Ostreococcus.

ABSTRACT: Ostreococcus is a marine picophytoeukaryote for which culture studies indicate there are 'high-light' and 'low-light' adapted ecotypes. Representatives of these ecotypes fall within two to three 18S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) clades for the former and one for the latter. However, clade distributions and relationships to this form of niche partitioning are unknown in nature. We developed two quantitative PCR primer-probe sets and enumerated the proposed ecotypes in the Pacific Ocean as well as the subtropical and tropical North Atlantic. Statistical differences in factors such as salinity, temperature and NO(3) indicated the ecophysiological parameters behind clade distributions are more complex than irradiance alone. Clade OII, containing the putatively low-light adapted strains, was detected at

SUBMITTER: Demir-Hilton E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3146286 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature