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 Ehrenreich, I. M.
Right arrow Articles by Webb, E. A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Ehrenreich, I. M.
Right arrow Articles by Webb, E. A.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Ehrenreich, I. M.
Right arrow Articles by Webb, E. A.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, November 2005, p. 7401-7413, Vol. 71, No. 11
0099-2240/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.71.11.7401-7413.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Distribution and Diversity of Natural Product Genes in Marine and Freshwater Cyanobacterial Cultures and Genomes

Ian M. Ehrenreich, John B. Waterbury, and Eric A. Webb*

Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543

Received 25 March 2005/ Accepted 16 July 2005

Natural products are a functionally diverse class of biochemically synthesized compounds, which include antibiotics, toxins, and siderophores. In this paper, we describe both the detection of natural product activities and the sequence identification of gene fragments from two molecular systems that have previously been implicated in natural product production, i.e., nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs) and modular polyketide synthases (PKSs), in diverse marine and freshwater cyanobacterial cultures. Using degenerate PCR and the sequencing of cloned products, we show that NRPSs and PKSs are common among the cyanobacteria tested. Our molecular data, when combined with genomic searches of finished and progressing cyanobacterial genomes, demonstrate that not all cyanobacteria contain NRPS and PKS genes and that the filamentous and heterocystous cyanobacteria are the richest sources of these genes and the most likely sources of novel natural products within the phylum. In addition to validating the use of degenerate primers for the identification of PKS and NRPS genes in cyanobacteria, this study also defines numerous gene fragments that will be useful as probes for future studies of the synthesis of natural products in cyanobacteria. Phylogenetic analyses of the cyanobacterial NRPS and PKS fragments sequenced in this study, as well as those from the cyanobacterial genome projects, demonstrate that there is remarkable diversity and likely novelty of these genes within the cyanobacteria. These results underscore the potential variety of novel products being produced by these ubiquitous organisms.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Biology, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543. Phone: (508) 289-3640. Fax: (508) 457-2134. E-mail: ewebb{at}whoi.edu.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, November 2005, p. 7401-7413, Vol. 71, No. 11
0099-2240/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.71.11.7401-7413.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Sharp, K., Arthur, K. E., Gu, L., Ross, C., Harrison, G., Gunasekera, S. P., Meickle, T., Matthew, S., Luesch, H., Thacker, R. W., Sherman, D. H., Paul, V. J. (2009). Phylogenetic and Chemical Diversity of Three Chemotypes of Bloom-Forming Lyngbya Species (Cyanobacteria: Oscillatoriales) from Reefs of Southeastern Florida. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 75: 2879-2888 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Castle, J. W., Rodgers, J. H. Jr. (2009). Hypothesis for the role of toxin-producing algae in Phanerozoic mass extinctions based on evidence from the geologic record and modern environments. Environmental Geosciences 16: 1-23 [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]  


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