Open AccessFacilitation of Robust Growth of Prochlorococcus Colonies and Dilute Liquid Cultures by “Helper” Heterotrophic Bacteria
Author(s) -
Jeffrey Morris,
Robin Kirkegaard,
Martin J. Szul,
Zackary I. Johnson,
Erik R. Zinser
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
applied and environmental microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.552
H-Index - 324
eISSN - 1070-6291
pISSN - 0099-2240
DOI - 10.1128/aem.02479-07
Subject(s) - prochlorococcus , axenic , heterotroph , biology , cyanobacteria , bacteria , microbiology and biotechnology , botany , synechococcus , genetics
Axenic (pure) cultures of marine unicellular cyanobacteria of theProchlorococcus genus grow efficiently only if the inoculation concentration is large; colonies form on semisolid medium at low efficiencies. In this work, we describe a novel method for growingProchlorococcus colonies on semisolid agar that improves the level of recovery to approximately 100%.Prochlorococcus grows robustly at low cell concentrations, in liquid or on solid medium, when cocultured with marine heterotrophic bacteria. Once theProchlorococcus cell concentration surpasses a critical threshold, the “helper” heterotrophs can be eliminated with antibiotics to produce axenic cultures. Our preliminary evidence suggests that one mechanism by which the heterotrophs helpProchlorococcus is the reduction of oxidative stress.