Differential Phototactic Behavior of Closely Related Cyanobacterial Isolates from Yellowstone Hot Spring Biofilms

Abstract

Optimizing light absorption is of paramount importance to photosynthetic organisms. Some photosynthetic microbes have evolved a sophisticated process called phototaxis to move toward or away from a light source.

Illuminating microbial mat assembly: Cyanobacteria and Chloroflexota cooperate to structure light-responsive biofilms

“…During the transition from light to dark conditions there was a noticeable but temporary decrease in Syn OS-B' speed, as previously observed (32), which was mitigated in binary consortia with Chfl MS-1, and not exhibited by ΔpilB (Figure 3H). As expected, Syn OS-B' increased its motility bias over the first 60-120 seconds of illumination when alone and in the binary consortium (Figure 3I), however, this bias declined after 120 seconds in both cases.…”

“…The genes responsible for Chfl MS-1 motility were not investigated here, but the Chfl MS-1 genome (30) does contain TadE/G genes of the tight adherence pilus family, which is involved in the motility of Liberibacter crescens (39). As we reported previously (32), Syn OS-B' was similar in speed and phototactic bias to other characterized cyanobacteria, particularly those from Yellowstone hot springs (27). Here, we found that disruption of the homolog of pilB in Syn OS-B' (CYB_2143), resulted in loss of T4P and motility, as found in Synechocystis sp.…”

Hot Is Rich—An Enormous Diversity of Simple Trichal Cyanobacteria from Yellowstone Hot Springs

“…decade, there has been a noticeable trend toward investigating ecophysiology in combination with the analysis of genomic data [8,9] and, in particular, the effect of temperature on community composition using modern methods [10][11][12][13][14].…”

“…These sites are very attractive for research; therefore, the total number of publications dealing with these thermal springs and their biological recovery is very high. In the last 2 of 29 decade, there has been a noticeable trend toward investigating ecophysiology in combination with the analysis of genomic data [8,9] and, in particular, the effect of temperature on community composition using modern methods [10][11][12][13][14].…”

“…Understandably, species surviving the highest temperatures, such as "Synechococcus sp. ", have received the most attention [8][9][10][14][15][16]. Studies on simple filamentous cyanobacteria (usually referred to as Leptolyngbya spp.)…”