Composition and diversity of nifH genes of nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria associated with boreal forest feather mosses.
Summary of "Composition and diversity of nifH genes of nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria associated with boreal forest feather mosses."
• Recent studies have revealed that nitrogen fixation by cyanobacteria living in association with feather mosses is a major input of nitrogen to boreal forests. We characterized the community composition and diversity of cyanobacterial nifH phylotypes associated with each of two feather moss species (Pleurozium schreberi and Hylocomium splendens) on each of 30 lake islands varying in ecosystem properties in northern Sweden. • Nitrogen fixation was measured using acetylene reduction, and nifH sequences were amplified using general and cyanobacterial selective primers, separated and analyzed using density gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) or cloning, and further sequenced for phylogenetic analyses. • Analyses of DGGE fingerprinting patterns revealed two host-specific clusters (one for each moss species), and sequence analysis showed five clusters of nifH phylotypes originating from heterocystous cyanobacteria. For H. splendens only, N(2) fixation was related to both nifH composition and diversity among islands. • We demonstrated that the cyanobacterial communities associated with feather mosses show a high degree of host specificity. However, phylotype composition and diversity, and nitrogen fixation, did not differ among groups of islands that varied greatly in their availability of resources. These results suggest that moss species identity, but not extrinsic environmental conditions, serves as the primary determinant of nitrogen-fixing cyanobacterial communities that inhabit mosses.
Affiliation
Department of Botany, Stockholm University, SE-106 91, Stockholm, Sweden Department of Forest Ecology and Management, SLU, SE-901 83, Umeå, Sweden.
Journal Details
This article was published in the following journal.
Name: The New phytologist
ISSN: 1469-8137
Pages:
Links
- PubMed Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21714790
- DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8137.2011.03809.x
Medical and Biotech [MESH] Definitions
Cyanobacteria
A phylum of oxygenic photosynthetic bacteria comprised of unicellular to multicellular bacteria possessing CHLOROPHYLL a and carrying out oxygenic PHOTOSYNTHESIS. Cyanobacteria are the only known organisms capable of fixing both CARBON DIOXIDE (in the presence of light) and NITROGEN. Cell morphology can include nitrogen-fixing heterocysts and/or resting cells called akinetes. Formerly called blue-green algae, cyanobacteria were traditionally treated as ALGAE.
Nostoc Muscorum
A form-species of nitrogen-fixing CYANOBACTERIA, in the family Nostocaceae, order Nostocales.
Nitrogenase
An enzyme system that catalyzes the fixing of nitrogen in soil bacteria and blue-green algae (CYANOBACTERIA). EC 1.18.6.1.
Plant Root Nodulation
The formation of a nitrogen-fixing cell mass on PLANT ROOTS following symbiotic infection by nitrogen-fixing bacteria such as RHIZOBIUM or FRANKIA.
Nitrogen Fixation
The process in certain BACTERIA; FUNGI; and CYANOBACTERIA converting free atmospheric NITROGEN to biologically usable forms of nitrogen, such as AMMONIA; NITRATES; and amino compounds.
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