Distribution of a consortium between unicellular algae and the N 2 fixing cyanobacterium UCYN‐ A in the North Atlantic Ocean

Summary The globally abundant, uncultured unicellular cyanobacterium UCYN ‐ A was recently discovered living in association with a eukaryotic cell closely related to a prymnesiophyte. Here, we established a double CAtalysed Reporter Deposition‐Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization ( CARD ‐ FISH ) appro...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental Microbiology
Main Authors: Krupke, Andreas, Lavik, Gaute, Halm, Hannah, Fuchs, Bernhard M., Amann, Rudolf I., Kuypers, Marcel M. M.
Other Authors: Max Planck Society
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2014
Subjects:
North Atlantic
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.12431
https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2F1462-2920.12431
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/wol1/doi/10.1111/1462-2920.12431/fullpdf
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Summary:Summary The globally abundant, uncultured unicellular cyanobacterium UCYN ‐ A was recently discovered living in association with a eukaryotic cell closely related to a prymnesiophyte. Here, we established a double CAtalysed Reporter Deposition‐Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization ( CARD ‐ FISH ) approach to identify both partners and provided quantitative information on their distribution and abundance across distinct water masses along a transect in the N orth A tlantic O cean. The N 2 fixation activity coincided with the detection of UCYN ‐ A cells and was only observed in oligotrophic (< 0.067 μ M and < 0.04 μ M ) and warm (> 18° C ) surface waters. Parallel 16 S ribosomal RNA gene analyses among unicellular diazotrophs indicated that only UCYN ‐ A cells were present. UCYN ‐ A cells were associated with an algal partner or non‐associated using the double CARD ‐ FISH approach. We demonstrated that UCYN ‐A cells living in association with H aptophyta were the dominant form (87.0 ± 6.1%), whereas non‐associated UCYN ‐ A cells represented only a minor fraction (5.2 ± 3.9%). Interestingly, UCYN ‐ A cells were also detected living in association with unknown single‐celled eukaryotes in small amounts (7.8 ± 5.2%), presumably A lveolata. The proposed ecological niche of UCYN ‐ A as an oligotrophic, mesophilic and obligate symbiotic nitrogen‐fixing microorganism is evident for the N orth A tlantic O cean.

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