AFFINITIES OF THE APHANOCAPSA FELDMANNI-LIKE CYANOBACTERIA FROM THE MARINE SPONGE XESTOSPONGIA MUTA BASED ON GENETIC AND MORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

Autori

  • ROB W.M. VAN SOEST

Abstract

The marine sponge Xestospongia muta (Porifera: Demospongiae: Haplosclerida) harbours cyanobacteria in its peripheral tissue that have been described as having an Aphanocapsa feldmanni-type appearance. Through subsequent cell fractionation steps we obtained a virtually pure cell suspension of the cyanobacteria. Through amplification of a region of the 16S rRNA gene we found that these cyanobacteria seem closely related to Prochlorococcus (Cyanobacteria, Prochlorophytes, Prochlorococcaceae), and Synechococcus (Cyanobacteria, Chroococcales, Synechococcus). We furthermore developed a new method, to obtain a clear signal with FISH by bleaching the auto-fluorescence of cyanobacteria, with osmium tetroxide. The location and morphological characteristics of the cyanobacteria are described by both light and electron microscopy.

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Pubblicato

2018-05-23