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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, September 1998, p. 3444-3450, Vol. 64, No. 9
0099-2240/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

New Nitrogen-Fixing Microorganisms Detected in Oligotrophic Oceans by Amplification of Nitrogenase (nifH) Genes

Jonathan P. Zehr,* Mark T. Mellon, and Sabino Zani

Department of Biology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York 12180-3590

Received 27 April 1998/Accepted 24 June 1998

Oligotrophic oceanic waters of the central ocean gyres typically have extremely low dissolved fixed inorganic nitrogen concentrations, but few nitrogen-fixing microorganisms from the oceanic environment have been cultivated. Nitrogenase gene (nifH) sequences amplified directly from oceanic waters showed that the open ocean contains more diverse diazotrophic microbial populations and more diverse habitats for nitrogen fixers than previously observed by classical microbiological techniques. Nitrogenase genes derived from unicellular and filamentous cyanobacteria, as well as from the alpha  and gamma  subdivisions of the class Proteobacteria, were found in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. nifH sequences that cluster phylogenetically with sequences from sulfate reducers or clostridia were found associated with planktonic crustaceans. Nitrogenase sequence types obtained from invertebrates represented phylotypes distinct from the phylotypes detected in the picoplankton size fraction. The results indicate that there are in the oceanic environment several distinct potentially nitrogen-fixing microbial assemblages that include representatives of diverse phylotypes.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Dept. of Biology, MRC 303, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12180-3590. Phone: (518) 276-8386. Fax: (518) 276-2162. E-mail: zehrj{at}rpi.edu.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, September 1998, p. 3444-3450, Vol. 64, No. 9
0099-2240/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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