Prochlorococcus marinus
A Microbial Biorealm page on the genus Prochlorococcus marinus
Classification
Higher order taxa
Bacteria (Domain); Cyanobacteria (Phylum); No Class Listed; Prochlorales (Order); Prochlorococcaceae (Family); Prochlorococcus (Genus)
Species
NCBI Taxonomy: [1] |
Image used with permission of http://www.genoscope.cns.fr
Prochlorococcus marinus
Description and significance
Prochlorococcus marinus was fist discovered and classified by Sallie W. Chrisholm in 1988.
Prochlorococcus marinus is the dominate photosynthetic organism in the ocean. It accounts for up to 60% of the ocean’s chlorophyll in many regions and is vastly numerous, often occurring at 10^5 cells/ml, abundant over the range of 40 °N to 40 °S The primary production and carbon sequestering capabilities in the open, oligotrophic, ocean are performed by these tinniest of cyanobacteria. P.marinus ranges in size from .6 to .eight um and have genomes of range l.6 to 2.6 Mbp. Most strains however, have genomes sized around 1.7 or 2.4 Mbp. Many experts understand such a condensed genome to be representative of the minimal genomic requirements for photosynthetic microbes.
P. marinus utilizes divinyl chlorophyll b and a2 as its light harvesting photochemicals. Its identification is still greatly in flux as many potential systems (subspecies, ecotypes, multiple gene sequence comparisons…) of classification have merit and support for varying taxonomy. The primary and predominate distinction between types of Phroclorococcus marinus is the ratio of their chl b to chl a2. Strains fall into 2 categories: High B/A isolates that have adapted to low iridescence light levels and low B/A isolates which flourish under high iridescences of light.
Genome structure
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Cell structure and metabolism
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Ecology
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Pathology
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Application to Biotechnology
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Current Research
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References
Edited by Stephen Hubbard, student of Rachel Larsen