Atelocyanobacterium thalassa

Candidatus Atelocyanobacterium thalassa (previously cyanobacterium UCYN-A,) is a species of cyanobacteria commonly found throughout the world's oceans.[1] Unlike many other cyanobacteria, A. thalassa lacks the ability to perform photosynthesis. Instead, it is found in a symbiotic relationship with photosynthetic algae. A. thalassa fixes nitrogen for the algae, while the algae provides carbon for A. thalassa through photosynthesis.[2]

Candidatus Atelocyanobacterium thalassa
Scientific classification
Domain:
Bacteria
Phylum:
Cyanobacteria
Order:
Chroococcales
Species:
Ca. Atelocyanobacterium thalassa

History

A. thalassa was first described in 1998 as a nitrogen-fixing bacteria with a much-reduced genome.[2] The microbe was originally given the name UCYN-A for "unicellular cyanobacteria group A".[3] In 2012, A. thalassa was described to be in a symbiotic association with the unicellular algae Braarudosphaera bigelowii and Chrysochromulina parkeae.[1]

Biochemistry

A. thalassa lacks a variety of metabolic components common to cyanobacteria, including the oxygen-producing photosystem II complex of the photosynthetic apparatus, the carboxysome, enzymes of the Calvin and tricarboxylic acid cycles, as well as several enzymes involved in amino acid synthesis.[4][5]

References
  1. Thompson, A. W.; Foster, R. A.; Krupke, A.; Carter, B. J.; Musat, N.; Vaulot, D.; Kuypers, M. M. M.; Zehr, J. P. (20 September 2012). "Unicellular Cyanobacterium Symbiotic with a Single-Celled Eukaryotic Alga". Science. 337 (6101): 1546–1550. Bibcode:2012Sci...337.1546T. doi:10.1126/science.1222700. PMID 22997339.
  2. Tim Stephens (20 September 2012). "Unusual symbiosis discovered in marine microorganisms". University of California Santa Cruz Newscenter. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  3. "Zehr Laboratory". University of California, Santa Cruz. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  4. Tripp, H. James; Bench, Shellie R.; Turk, Kendra A.; Foster, Rachel A.; Desany, Brian A.; Niazi, Faheem; Affourtit, Jason P.; Zehr, Jonathan P. (2009). "Metabolic streamlining in an open-ocean nitrogen-fixing cyanobacterium". Nature. 464 (7285): 90–94. doi:10.1038/nature08786. PMID 20173737.
  5. Bothe, H.; Tripp, H. J.; Zehr, J. P. (2010). "Unicellular cyanobacteria with a new mode of life: the lack of photosynthetic oxygen evolution allows nitrogen fixation to proceed". Arch Microbiol. 192 (10): 783–90. doi:10.1007/s00203-010-0621-5. PMID 20803290.


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