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Diversity of phycoerythrin‐containing picocyanobacteria that share the same spectral phenotype
Author(s) -
Everrroad R. C.,
Wood A. M.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of phycology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.85
H-Index - 127
eISSN - 1529-8817
pISSN - 0022-3646
DOI - 10.1111/j.0022-3646.2003.03906001_42.x
Subject(s) - biology , phycoerythrin , evolutionary biology , prochlorococcus , genetic diversity , phylotype , genetics , gene , synechococcus , 16s ribosomal rna , cyanobacteria , bacteria , population , flow cytometry , demography , sociology
Phycoerythrin (PE) is an important light‐harvesting pigment for many marine picocyanobacteria. There are numerous spectral forms of PE, which differ in their ability to absorb blue and green wavelengths of light, depending on the precise chromophore composition. It remains unclear how the evolutionary history of this family of proteins relates to the diversity of the marine picocyanobacteria. In order to ascertain the level of diversity present in marine picocyanobacterial communities and to determine if specific spectral phenotypes are homologous or convergent, we have begun to examine the genetic diversity found in marine picocyanobacterial strains that share the same or similar spectral signatures for PE fluorescence. The strains we examined are all clonal cultures isolated from a range of environments, including the Arabian Sea and Black Sea. We report results from sequence data obtained using degenerate primers for 16S rRNA, rpoC1, and PE genes; we also examine the utility of taxonomically grouping these organisms by using physiological characteristics such as size and PE signature.