Diversity of the cyanobacteria
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
4-18-2017
Abstract
The cyanobacteria are an ancient lineage of photo-oxygenic bacteria. Globally responsible for much of the primary productivity and nitrogen fixation, they are also evolutionarily significant as the photosynthetic members of serial endosymbiotic events leading to the establishment of chloroplasts. Traditionally classified based on morphological characters, recent research revealed an abundance of cryptic diversity evidenced by molecular analyses, most notably the 16S rDNA gene sequence. Explorations of seldom sampled habitats, such as tropics environments, aerophytic habitats, soil crusts, etc., have also revealed a tremendous new diversity of taxa. This increase in the alpha-level diversity, coupled with new molecular techniques, has greatly altered our perceptions of the evolutionary relationships within this clade. Many of the traditional genera have proven to be polyphyletic, but revisions are underway.
Publication Title
Modern Topics in the Phototrophic Prokaryotes: Environmental and Applied Aspects
First Page
3
Last Page
46
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
10.1007/978-3-319-46261-5_1
ISBN
9783319462615,9783319462592
Citation Information
Dvořák, P., Casamatta, D.A., Hašler, P., Jahodářová, E., Norwich, A.R., Poulíčková, A. (2017). Diversity of the Cyanobacteria. In: Hallenbeck, P. (eds) Modern Topics in the Phototrophic Prokaryotes. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46261-5_1