New bacteria discovered in Southern California may be affiliating with cyanobacteria
- Sediminibacterium is a member of Chitinophagaceae first described in 2008.
- Sediminibacterium is a gram-negative bacterium and is closely related to Niabella and Terrimonas.
- Sediminibacterium is motile and can be either obligate aerobes or facultative anaerobes.
- A group of Southern California researchers led by Prof. Arun Sethuraman of San Diego State University and California State University San Marcos discovered the novel Sediminibacterium.
- The discovery came after sequencing laboratory cultures of cyanobacteria from freshwater streams in Southern California.
- The genome of Sediminibacterium that resides in the blue-green algal phycosphere was sequenced.
- Phycosphere is a mucus region containing organic matter which surrounds a cyanobacterium.[1]
- Microalgae secrete a sugary substance into the phycosphere which can be used by bacterial colonizers.
- Analysis revealed an almost complete genome that was placed within sediminibacterial clades.
- Results also revealed that the new bacteria may have genes involved in a mutualistic/commensal relationship with cyanobacteria.
- The study helps understand the relationship between sediminibacteria and cyanobacteria, and the discovered genome may be utilized for future research.
Sources:
Sethuraman, A., Stancheva, R., Sanders, C., Caceres, L., Castro, D., Hausknecht-Buss, H., Henry, S., Johansen, H., Kasler, A., Lastor, S., Massaro, I., Mekuria, I., Moron-Solano, A., Read, N., Vengerova, G., Zhang, A., Zhang, X., & Read, B. (2022). Genome of a novel Sediminibacterium discovered in association with two species of freshwater cyanobacteria from streams in Southern California. G3 (Bethesda, Md.), jkac123. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1093/g3journal/jkac123
