Strains of the toxic and bloom-forming Nodularia spumigena (cyanobacteria) can degrade methylphosphonate and release methane.

ABSTRACT: Nodularia spumigena is a nitrogen-fixing cyanobacterium that forms toxic blooms in the Baltic Sea each summer and the availability of phosphorous is an important factor limiting the formation of these blooms. Bioinformatic analysis identified a phosphonate degrading (phn) gene cluster in the genome of N. spumigena suggesting that this bacterium may use phosphonates as a phosphorus source. Our results show that strains of N. spumigena could grow in medium containing methylphosphonic acid (MPn) as the sole source of phosphorous and released methane when growing in medium containing MPn. We analyzed the total transcriptomes of N. spumigena UHCC 0039 grown using MPn and compared them with cultures growing in P_i-replete medium. The phnJ, phosphonate lyase gene, was upregulated when M

SUBMITTER: Teikari JE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5955973 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature