Fottea 13(1): 39-52, 2013 | DOI: 10.5507/fot.2013.004

Polyphasic evaluation of Limnoraphis robusta, a water-bloom forming cyanobacterium from Lake Atitlán, Guatemala, with a description of Limnoraphis gen. nov.

Jiří Komárek*,1, Eliška Zapomělová2, Jan Šmarda3, Jiří Kopecký4, Eliška Rejmánková5, Jason Woodhouse6, Brett A. Neilan6, Jaroslava Komárková2
1 Institute of Botany AS CR and University of South Bohemia, Dukelská 135, CZ - 379 82 Třeboň, Czech Republic
2 Biology Centre of AS CR, Institute of Hydrobiology, Na Sádkách 7, CZ 37005 České Budějovice, Czech Republic
3 Department of Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, Kamenice 5, CZ- 625 00 Brno - Bohunice, Czech Republic
4 Institute of Microbiology AS CR, Opatovický mlýn, CZ-379 81 Třeboň, Czech Republic
5 University of California, Davis, One Shields Ave., Davis, CA 95616, USA
6 Centre for Cyanobacteria and Astrobiology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia

A tropical planktic filamentous cyanobacterium, tentatively identified as Lyngbya robusta, recently increased in abundance in Lake Atitlán, Guatemala, and since 2008 annual water-blooms occurred. This was one from the first known cases of L. robusta water-blooms worldwide. A polyphasic evaluation of L. robusta using 16S rRNA gene sequencing, cytomorphological markers, and ecological characteristics was made. This species had several unique features. It produced aerotopes that were irregularly spaced in cells; cyanotoxins were not found, and it fixed nitrogen in spite of the lack of heterocytes. It contained a high amount of carotenoids, which caused an unusual brown color of the macroscopic scum on the water level. Molecular phylogenetic analyses using the 16S rRNA gene showed that L. robusta, together with few other planktic species, formed a clade, separated from typical Lyngbya species. The main diacritical markers of this clade were the planktic type of life and formation of gas vesicles in cells. Based upon molecular, morphological and ecological data, a new genus Limnoraphis was proposed with four species.

Keywords: carotenoids, ecology, Guatemala, Lake Atitlán, Limnoraphis, planktic Lyngbya, taxonomy, ultrastructure, water-blooms

Received: May 17, 2012; Accepted: June 29, 2012; Published: March 1, 2013  Show citation

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Komárek, J., Zapomělová, E., Šmarda, J., Kopecký, J., Rejmánková, E., Woodhouse, J., Neilan, B.A., & Komárková, J. (2013). Polyphasic evaluation of Limnoraphis robusta, a water-bloom forming cyanobacterium from Lake Atitlán, Guatemala, with a description of Limnoraphis gen. nov. Fottea, 13(1), 39-52. doi: 10.5507/fot.2013.004
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