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1: Science. 2008 Nov 14;322(5904):1110-2.
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Globally distributed uncultivated oceanic N2-fixing cyanobacteria lack oxygenic photosystem II.

Zehr JP, Bench SR, Carter BJ, Hewson I, Niazi F, Shi T, Tripp HJ, Affourtit JP.

Ocean Sciences Department, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA. zehrj@ucsc.edu

Biological nitrogen (N2) fixation is important in controlling biological productivity and carbon flux in the oceans. Unicellular N2-fixing cyanobacteria have only recently been discovered and are widely distributed in tropical and subtropical seas. Metagenomic analysis of flow cytometry-sorted cells shows that unicellular N2-fixing cyanobacteria in "group A" (UCYN-A) lack genes for the oxygen-evolving photosystem II and for carbon fixation, which has implications for oceanic carbon and nitrogen cycling and raises questions regarding the evolution of photosynthesis and N2 fixation on Earth.

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PMID: 19008448 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]