Marine N2-fixing cyanobacteria, including the unicellular genus Crocosphaera, are considered keystone species in marine food webs. Crocosphaera are globally distributed and provide new sources of nitrogen and carbon, which fuel oligotrophic microbial communities and upper trophic levels. Despite their ecosystem importance, only one pelagic, oligotrophic, phycoerythrin-rich species, Crocosphaera watsonii, has ever been identified and characterized as widespread.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBacterial characterization is an important aspect of microbiology that includes experimentally determining growth rates, environmental conditions conducive to growth, and the types of energy sources microorganisms can use. Researchers use this information to help understand and predict an organism's ecological distribution and environmental functions. Microbiology students generally conduct bacterial characterization experiments in their coursework; however, they are frequently restricted to model organisms without ecological relevance and already well-studied physiologies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Salt Creek pupfish, Miller, 1943 is endemic to Death Valley, California, USA, and resides as a single population within one of the most extreme inland aquatic environments capable of supporting fish. Here we report the sequencing of complete 16,499 base pair (bp) mitochondrion genomes from four individuals. The mitochondrial genome of comprises 13 protein-coding regions, 12S and 16S rRNAs, 22 tRNAs, and an 832 bp D-loop region.
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