Phototrophic co-cultures from extreme environments: community structure and potential value for fundamental and applied research

Abstract

25Cyanobacteria are found in most illuminated environments and are key players in global 26 carbon and nitrogen cycling. Although significant efforts have been made to advance our 27 understanding of this important phylum, still little is known about how members of the 28 cyanobacteria affect and respond to changes in complex biological systems. This lack of 29 knowledge is in part due to the reliance on our ability to maintain pure cultures when 30 determining the metabolism and function of a microorganism. To fill this knowledge-gap, 31we selected 26 photosynthetic co-cultures from the Culture Collection of Microorganisms 32 from Extreme Environments (CCMEE) for 16S rRNA gene sequencing. We assessed if 33 samples readily available from the CCMEE could contribute valuable insights to advance 34 applied and fundamental science in the areas of global and local carbon and nitrogen 35 cycling, without growing individual members of these co-cultures axenically. Results from 36 this work will aid in determining whether culture depositories in general hold the potential 37 to advance fundamental and applied research. Since maintaining culture depositories is 38 resource intensive, such an assessment will be of great value in guiding future funding 39 decisions. 40 41 growing interest in the utilization of axenic cyanobacteria as well as cyanobacteria 49 containing co-cultures in microbial fuel cells 4,5 . In addition to having a global effect on the 50 carbon cycle, cyanobacteria-mediated nitrogen fixation has been estimated to supply 20-51

Phototrophic Co-cultures From Extreme Environments: Community Structure and Potential Value for Fundamental and Applied Research

“…He was, and will remain, a great inspiration to many of us. This manuscript has been released as a pre-print at www.biorxiv.org (Shaw et al, 2020).…”