Metatranscriptomics of N2-fixing cyanobacteria in the Amazon River plume.

ABSTRACT: Biological N2 fixation is an important nitrogen source for surface ocean microbial communities. However, nearly all information on the diversity and gene expression of organisms responsible for oceanic N2 fixation in the environment has come from targeted approaches that assay only a small number of genes and organisms. Using genomes of diazotrophic cyanobacteria to extract reads from extensive meta-genomic and -transcriptomic libraries, we examined diazotroph diversity and gene expression from the Amazon River plume, an area characterized by salinity and nutrient gradients. Diazotroph genome and transcript sequences were most abundant in the transitional waters compared with lower salinity or oceanic water masses. We were able to distinguish two genetically divergent phylotypes within the

SUBMITTER: Hilton JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4478696 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature