Sargent, E.C., Hitchcock, A., Johansson, S.A. et al. (5 more authors) (2016) Evidence for polyploidy in the globally important diazotroph Trichodesmium. FEMS Microbiology Letters, 363 (21). fnw244. ISSN 0378-1097
Abstract
Polyploidy is a well-described trait in some prokaryotic organisms; however, it is unusual in marine microbes from oligotrophic environments, which typically display a tendency towards genome streamlining. The biogeochemically significant diazotrophic cyanobacterium Trichodesmium is a potential exception. With a relatively large genome and a comparatively high proportion of non-protein-coding DNA, Trichodesmium appears to allocate relatively more resources to genetic material than closely related organisms and microbes within the same environment. Through simultaneous analysis of gene abundance and direct cell counts, we show for the first time that Trichodesmium spp. can also be highly polyploid, containing as many as 100 genome copies per cell in field-collected samples and >600 copies per cell in laboratory cultures. These findings have implications for the widespread use of the abundance of the nifH gene (encoding a subunit of the N2-fixing enzyme nitrogenase) as an approach for quantifying the abundance and distribution of marine diazotrophs. Moreover, polyploidy may combine with the unusual genomic characteristics of this genus both in reflecting evolutionary dynamics and influencing phenotypic plasticity and ecological resilience.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Editors: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | ©2017 Oxford University Press. This is an author produced version of a paper subsequently published in FEMS Microbiology Letters. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Trichodesmium; cyanobacteria; polyploidy; nifH; nitrogenase; diazotroph |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > School of Biosciences (Sheffield) > Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 17 Nov 2017 15:48 |
Last Modified: | 17 Nov 2017 15:52 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1093/femsle/fnw244 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Oxford University Press |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1093/femsle/fnw244 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:124126 |