ABSTRACT: Komarekiella atlantica HA4396-MV6 and co-occurring heterotrophs from cyanobacterial mat from Theobald House, Kauai, HI, United States - 20190625_25
Project description:Aphanocapsa lilacina HA4352-LM1 and co-occurring heterotrophs from rock surface from Maniniholo cave, near Haena, Kauai, HI, United States - 20190625_3
Project description:Goleter apudmare HA4340-LM2 and co-occurring heterotrophs from cave wall surface from Maniniholo cave, Kauai, Hawaii, United States - 20181031_20A
Project description:Desmonostoc geniculatum HA4340-LM1 and co-occurring heterotrophs from cave wall surface from Maniniholo cave, Kauai, Hawaii, United States - 20181024_15A
Project description:Tolypothrix carrinoi HA7290-LM1 and co-occurring heterotrophs from cave wall surface from Makauwahi cave, Kauai, Hawaii, United States - 20181107_10A
Project description:Blooms of planktonic cyanobacteria have long been of concern in lakes, but more recently, harmful impacts of riverine benthic cyanobacterial mats been recognized. As yet, we know little about how various benthic cyanobacteria are distributed in river networks, or how environmental conditions or other associated microbes in their consortia affect their biosynthetic capacities. We performed metagenomic sequencing for 22 Oscillatoriales-dominated (Cyanobacteria) microbial mats collected across the Eel River network in Northern California and investigated factors associated with anatoxin-a producing cyanobacteria. All microbial communities were dominated by one or two cyanobacterial species, so the key mat metabolisms involve oxygenic photosynthesis and carbon oxidation. Only a few metabolisms fueled the growth of the mat communities, with little evidence for anaerobic metabolic pathways. We genomically defined four cyanobacterial species, all which shared <96% average nucleotide identity with reference Oscillatoriales genomes and are potentially novel species in the genus Microcoleus. One of the Microcoleus species contained the anatoxin-a biosynthesis genes, and we describe the first anatoxin-a gene cluster from the Microcoleus clade within Oscillatoriales. Occurrence of these four Microcoleus species in the watershed was correlated with total dissolved nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations, and the species that contains the anatoxin-a gene cluster was found in sites with higher nitrogen concentrations. Microbial assemblages in mat samples with the anatoxin-a gene cluster consistently had a lower abundance of Burkholderiales (Betaproteobacteria) species than did mats without the anatoxin-producing genes. The associations of water nutrient concentrations and certain co-occurring microbes with anatoxin-a producing Microcoleus motivate further exploration for their roles as potential controls on the distributions of toxigenic benthic cyanobacteria in river networks.