Unicellular cyanobacterium symbiotic with a single-celled eukaryotic alga
Thompson, A.W.; Foster, R.A.; Krupke, A.; Carter, B.J.; Musat, N.; Vaulot, D.; Kuypers, M.M.; Zehr, J.P. (2012). Unicellular cyanobacterium symbiotic with a single-celled eukaryotic alga. Science (Wash.) 337(6101): 1546-1550. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1222700
In: Science (Washington). American Association for the Advancement of Science: New York, N.Y. ISSN 0036-8075; e-ISSN 1095-9203, more
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| Authors | | Top |
- Thompson, A.W.
- Foster, R.A.
- Krupke, A.
- Carter, B.J.
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- Musat, N.
- Vaulot, D.
- Kuypers, M.M.
- Zehr, J.P.
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| Abstract |
Symbioses between nitrogen (N)(2)-fixing prokaryotes and photosynthetic eukaryotes are important for nitrogen acquisition in N-limited environments. Recently, a widely distributed planktonic uncultured nitrogen-fixing cyanobacterium (UCYN-A) was found to have unprecedented genome reduction, including the lack of oxygen-evolving photosystem II and the tricarboxylic acid cycle, which suggested partnership in a symbiosis. We showed that UCYN-A has a symbiotic association with a unicellular prymnesiophyte, closely related to calcifying taxa present in the fossil record. The partnership is mutualistic, because the prymnesiophyte receives fixed N in exchange for transferring fixed carbon to UCYN-A. This unusual partnership between a cyanobacterium and a unicellular alga is a model for symbiosis and is analogous to plastid and organismal evolution, and if calcifying, may have important implications for past and present oceanic N-2 fixation. |
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