Open AccessDiversity of Diazotrophic Unicellular Cyanobacteria in the Tropical North Atlantic Ocean
Author(s) -
Luisa I. Falcón,
Frank Cipriano,
Andrei Y. Chistoserdov,
Edward Carpenter
Publication year - 2002
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.68.11.5760-5764.2002
Subject(s) - cyanobacteria , subtropics , biology , diazotroph , phylogenetic tree , plankton , ecology , diatom , gene , nitrogen fixation , bacteria , paleontology , biochemistry
We present data on the genetic diversity and phylogenetic affinities of N2-fixing unicellular cyanobacteria in the plankton of the tropical North Atlantic Ocean. Our dinitrogenase gene (nifH) sequences grouped together with a group of cyanobacteria from the subtropical North Pacific; another subtropical North Pacific group was only distantly related. Most of the 16S ribosomal DNA sequences from our tropical North Atlantic samples were closely allied with sequences from a symbiont of the diatom Climacodium frauenfeldianum. These findings suggest a complex pattern of evolutionary and ecological divergence among unicellular cyanobacteria within and between ocean basins.