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

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

SUBMITTER: Astorga-Elo M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4409168 | biostudies-literature | 2015 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature