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Variability of Chroococcus (Cyanobacteria) morphospecies with regard to phylogenetic relationships

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Abstract

Recent advances in the taxonomy of cyanobacteria due to the utilization of molecular methods (such as 16S rRNA analysis) require a comparison of genetically identified items with their morphological expression. Morphological variability of seven monoclonal populations of the planktonic coccoid genus Chroococcus Nägeli, isolated mostly from reservoirs, fishponds, and littoral substrata from localities in the Czech and Slovak Republics, were studied experimentally under various combinations of nutrient concentration, light intensity, temperature, and water movement. Two cultivation media (WH-WC and BG11) commonly used in algal collections were applied in a liquid state. Of these, the WH medium was found to be more convenient for planktonic forms. Impacts of combined temperature and light gradients, concentration of P–PO4, and a stable versus shaken medium were found to stress different morphological modifications as a consequence of varied growth intensity and media convenience. Cell width was chosen as the parameter for testing changes in morphology; formation of mucilage and packets of cells were also taken into account. According to 16S rRNA gene analysis, the sequences of 10 strains (including seven studied in the experiments), which were assigned to the genus Chroococcus in the Culture Collection CCALA Třeboň (www.cas.ccala.cz) formed four distinct phylogenetic groups. While two of them showed no affiliation to the genus Chroococcus, two other groups proved the polyphyletic character of the genus. Apart from the group of typical species of the genus Chroococcus, a group of planktonic species could be distinguished, i.e., Chroococcus limneticus Lemmermann 1898 (Limnococcus), and was established as a new genus after recombination.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank J. Komárek for valuable discussions, F. Hindák, L. Kováčik, and a staff of CCALA in Třeboň who supplied and maintained strains for the culture collection and consequently for our experiments, and M. Kupková from the Hydrobiological Institute AS CR for technical help. Financial support was provided by the following projects: 206/09/0309 and 206/07/0917 by Grant Agency of Czech Republic and AV0Z60170517 awarded to HBI AS CR. This study was presented as a contributed article at the Bat Sheva de Rothschild seminar on Phytoplankton in the Physical Environment—The 15th Workshop of the International Association of Phytoplankton Taxonomy and Ecology (IAP)—held in Ramot, Israel, November 23–30, 2008.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Hydrobiology, Biology Centre of the ASCR, České Budějovice, Czech Republic

    Jarka Komárková, Jitka Jezberová & Eliška Zapomělová

  2. Faculty of Sciences, University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice, Czech Republic

    Jarka Komárková

  3. Algological Centre, Botanical Institute of ASCR, Ťreboň, Czech Republic

    Jarka Komárková

  4. Institute of Systems Biology and Ecology of the ASCR, Nové Hrady, Czech Republic

    Ondřej Komárek

  5. Department of Autotrophic Microorganisms, Institute of Microbiology of the ASCR, Třeboň, Czech Republic

    Ondřej Komárek

Authors
  1. Jarka Komárková
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  2. Jitka Jezberová
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  3. Ondřej Komárek
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  4. Eliška Zapomělová
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Correspondence to Jarka Komárková.

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Guest editors: T. Zohary, J. Padisák & L. Naselli-Flores / Phytoplankton in the Physical Environment: Papers from the 15th Workshop of the International Association for Phytoplankton Taxonomy and Ecology (IAP), held at the Ramot Holiday Resort on the Golan Heights, Israel, 23–30 November 2008

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Komárková, J., Jezberová, J., Komárek, O. et al. Variability of Chroococcus (Cyanobacteria) morphospecies with regard to phylogenetic relationships. Hydrobiologia 639, 69–83 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-009-0015-3

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