Journal
FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
Volume 6, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
FRONTIERS MEDIA SA
DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2015.00626
Keywords
microbial species; light adaptation; light acclimation; cyanobacteria; photosynthesis
Categories
Funding
- GSP Foundational Scientific Focus Area (FSFA) at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) [112443]
- Montana Agricultural Experiment Station [911352]
- NSF-DMS [1022836]
- NSF [MCB-1021725]
- Direct For Mathematical & Physical Scien
- Division Of Mathematical Sciences [1022836] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Div Of Molecular and Cellular Bioscience
- Direct For Biological Sciences [1021725] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Closely related strains of thermophilic Synechococcus were cultivated from the microbial mats found in the effluent channels of Mushroom Spring, Yellowstone National Park (YNP). These strains have identical or nearly identical 16S rRNA sequences but are representative of separate, predicted putative ecotype (PE) populations, which were identified by using the more highly resolving psaA locus and which predominate at different vertical positions within the 1-mm-thick upper-green layer of the mat. Pyrosequencing confirmed that each strain contained a single, predominant psaA genotype. Strains differed in growth rate as a function of irradiance. A strain with a psaA genotype corresponding to a predicted PE that predominates near the mat surface grew fastest at high irradiances, whereas strains with psaA genotypes representative of predominant subsurface populations grew faster at low irradiance and exhibited greater sensitivity to abrupt shifts to high light. The high-light-adapted and low-light-adapted strains also exhibited differences in pigment content and the composition of the photosynthetic apparatus (photosystem ratio) when grown under different light intensities. Cells representative of the different strains had similar morphologies under low-light conditions, but under high-light conditions, cells of lowlight-adapted strains became elongated and formed short chains of cells. Collectively, the results presented here are consistent with the hypothesis that closely related, but distinct, ecological species of Synechococcus occupy different light niches in the Mushroom Spring microbial mat and acclimate differently to changing light environments.
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