This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Falcón, L. I.
Right arrow Articles by Capone, D. G.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Falcón, L. I.
Right arrow Articles by Capone, D. G.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Falcón, L. I.
Right arrow Articles by Capone, D. G.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, February 2004, p. 765-770, Vol. 70, No. 2
0099-2240/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.70.2.765-770.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

N2 Fixation by Unicellular Bacterioplankton from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans: Phylogeny and In Situ Rates

Luisa I. Falcón,1* Edward J. Carpenter,2 Frank Cipriano,3 Birgitta Bergman,4 and Douglas G. Capone5

Marine Sciences Research Center, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York 11794-5000,1 Romberg Tiburon Center for Environmental Studies, San Francisco State University, Tiburon, California 94920,2 Conservation Genetics Laboratory, Biology Department, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, California 94132,3 Botanical Institute, Stockholm University, S-106-91 Stockholm, Sweden,4 Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 900895

Received 11 July 2003/ Accepted 4 November 2003

N2-fixing proteobacteria ({alpha} and {gamma}) and unicellular cyanobacteria are common in both the tropical North Atlantic and Pacific oceans. In near-surface waters proteobacterial nifH transcripts were present during both night and day while unicellular cyanobacterial nifH transcripts were present during the nighttime only, suggesting separation of N2 fixation and photosynthesis by unicellular cyanobacteria. Phylogenetic relationships among unicellular cyanobacteria from both oceans were determined after sequencing of a conserved region of 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) of cyanobacteria, and results showed that they clustered together, regardless of the ocean of origin. However, sequencing of nifH transcripts of unicellular cyanobacteria from both oceans showed that they clustered separately. This suggests that unicellular cyanobacteria from the tropical North Atlantic and subtropical North Pacific share a common ancestry (16S rDNA) and that potential unicellular N2 fixers have diverged (nifH). N2 fixation rates for unicellular bacterioplankton (including small cyanobacteria) from both oceans were determined in situ according to the acetylene reduction and 15N2 protocols. The results showed that rates of fixation by bacterioplankton can be almost as high as those of fixation by the colonial N2-fixing marine cyanobacteria Trichodesmium spp. in the tropical North Atlantic but that rates are much lower in the subtropical North Pacific.

* Corresponding author. Present address: Romberg Tiburon Center for Environmental Studies, San Francisco State University, 3152 Paradise Dr., Tiburon, CA 94920. Phone: (415) 338-3737. Fax: (415) 435-7121. E-mail: lfalcon{at}sfsu.edu.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, February 2004, p. 765-770, Vol. 70, No. 2
0099-2240/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.70.2.765-770.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Finzi-Hart, J. A., Pett-Ridge, J., Weber, P. K., Popa, R., Fallon, S. J., Gunderson, T., Hutcheon, I. D., Nealson, K. H., Capone, D. G. (2009). Fixation and fate of C and N in the cyanobacterium Trichodesmium using nanometer-scale secondary ion mass spectrometry. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 106: 6345-6350 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Zehr, J. P., Bench, S. R., Mondragon, E. A., McCarren, J., DeLong, E. F. (2007). Low genomic diversity in tropical oceanic N2-fixing cyanobacteria. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 104: 17807-17812 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Diez, B., Bauer, K., Bergman, B. (2007). Epilithic Cyanobacterial Communities of a Marine Tropical Beach Rock (Heron Island, Great Barrier Reef): Diversity and Diazotrophy. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 73: 3656-3668 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Davis, C. S., McGillicuddy, D. J. Jr. (2006). Transatlantic abundance of the N2-fixing colonial cyanobacterium Trichodesmium.. Science 312: 1517-1520 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Dyhrman, S. T., Haley, S. T. (2006). Phosphorus Scavenging in the Unicellular Marine Diazotroph Crocosphaera watsonii. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 72: 1452-1458 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Langlois, R. J., LaRoche, J., Raab, P. A. (2005). Diazotrophic Diversity and Distribution in the Tropical and Subtropical Atlantic Ocean. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 71: 7910-7919 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Church, M. J., Short, C. M., Jenkins, B. D., Karl, D. M., Zehr, J. P. (2005). Temporal Patterns of Nitrogenase Gene (nifH) Expression in the Oligotrophic North Pacific Ocean. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 71: 5362-5370 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Mahaffey, C., Michaels, A. F., Capone, D. G. (2005). The conundrum of marine N2 fixation. ajs 305: 546-595 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Bird, C., Martinez Martinez, J., O'Donnell, A. G., Wyman, M. (2005). Spatial Distribution and Transcriptional Activity of an Uncultured Clade of Planktonic Diazotrophic {gamma}-Proteobacteria in the Arabian Sea. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 71: 2079-2085 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Mazard, S. L., Fuller, N. J., Orcutt, K. M., Bridle, O., Scanlan, D. J. (2004). PCR Analysis of the Distribution of Unicellular Cyanobacterial Diazotrophs in the Arabian Sea. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 70: 7355-7364 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»