Genome size of marine α-cyanobacteria

Range 1.6 – 2.8 Mb
Organism Cyanobacteria
Reference Whitehead L, Long BM, Price GD, Badger MR. Comparing the in vivo function of α-carboxysomes and β-carboxysomes in two model cyanobacteria. Plant Physiol. 2014 May165(1):398-411. doi: 10.1104/pp.114.237941 p.398 right column top paragraphPubMed ID24642960
Primary Source Rae BD, Förster B, Badger MR, Price GD. The CO2-concentrating mechanism of Synechococcus WH5701 is composed of native and horizontally-acquired components. Photosynth Res. 2011 Sep109(1-3):59-72. doi: 10.1007/s11120-011-9641-5 AND Beck C, Knoop H, Axmann IM, Steuer R. The diversity of cyanobacterial metabolism: genome analysis of multiple phototrophic microorganisms. BMC Genomics. 2012 Feb 2 13: 56. doi: 10.1186/1471-2164-13-56PubMed ID21384181, 22300633
Method Primary source Beck et al., 2012, abstract: "Here, [investigators] report a whole genome comparison of multiple phototrophic cyanobacteria. [They] describe genetic diversity found within cyanobacterial genomes, specifically with respect to metabolic functionality. [Their] results are based on pair-wise comparison of protein sequences and concomitant construction of clusters of likely ortholog genes. [They] differentiate between core, shared and unique genes and show that the majority of genes are associated with a single genome."
Comments P.398 right column top paragraph: "Marine α-cyanobacteria live in very stable environments with high pH (pH 8.2) and dissolved carbon levels but low nutrients. They are characterized by small cells, very small genomes (1.6–2.8 Mb), and a few constitutively expressed carbon uptake transporters (primary sources). They have been described as low flux, low energy cyanobacteria with a minimal CCM (Badger et al., 2006). Although these species are slow growing, oceanic cyanobacteria contribute as much as one-half of oceanic primary productivity (BNID 117042), suggesting that they may contribute up to 25% to net global productivity every year."
Entered by Uri M
ID 117043