Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 13 August 2004:
Vol. 305. no. 5686, pp. 997 - 1000
DOI: 10.1126/science.1099128
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Discovery of Symbiotic Nitrogen-Fixing Cyanobacteria in Corals

Michael P. Lesser,1* Charles H. Mazel,2 Maxim Y. Gorbunov,3 Paul G. Falkowski3,4

Colonies of the Caribbean coral Montastraea cavernosa exhibit a solar-stimulated orange-red fluorescence that is spectrally similar to a variety of fluorescent proteins expressed by corals. The source of this fluorescence is phycoerythrin in unicellular, nonheterocystis, symbiotic cyanobacteria within the host cells of the coral. The cyanobacteria coexist with the symbiotic dinoflagellates (zooxanthellae) of the coral and express the nitrogen-fixing enzyme nitrogenase. The presence of this prokaryotic symbiont in a nitrogen-limited zooxanthellate coral suggests that nitrogen fixation may be an important source of this limiting element for the symbiotic association.

1 Department of Zoology and Center for Marine Biology, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, USA.
2 Physical Sciences, 20 New England Business Center, Andover, MA 01810, USA.
3 Environmental Biophysics and Molecular Ecology Program, Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, 71 Dudley Road, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA.
4 Department of Geological Sciences, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: mpl{at}cisunix.unh.edu

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Culture-Independent Characterization of Bacterial Communities Associated with the Cold-Water Coral Lophelia pertusa in the Northeastern Gulf of Mexico.
C. A. Kellogg, J. T. Lisle, and J. P. Galkiewicz (2009)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 75, 2294-2303
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Red Fluorescent Protein Responsible for Pigmentation in Trematode-Infected Porites compressa Tissues.
C. V. Palmer, M. S. Roth, and R. D. Gates (2009)
Biol. Bull. 216, 68-74
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Metagenomic analysis indicates that stressors induce production of herpes-like viruses in the coral Porites compressa.
R. L. Vega Thurber, K. L. Barott, D. Hall, H. Liu, B. Rodriguez-Mueller, C. Desnues, R. A. Edwards, M. Haynes, F. E. Angly, L. Wegley, et al. (2008)
PNAS 105, 18413-18418
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Patterns of Fluorescent Protein Expression in Scleractinian Corals.
D. F. Gruber, H.-T. Kao, S. Janoschka, J. Tsai, and V. A. Pieribone (2008)
Biol. Bull. 215, 143-154
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
A 49-kDa Mini-lipoxygenase from Anabaena sp. PCC 7120 Retains Catalytically Complete Functionality.
Y. Zheng, W. E. Boeglin, C. Schneider, and A. R. Brash (2008)
J. Biol. Chem. 283, 5138-5147
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Enzymatic synthesis of a bicyclobutane fatty acid by a hemoprotein lipoxygenase fusion protein from the cyanobacterium Anabaena PCC 7120.
C. Schneider, K. Niisuke, W. E. Boeglin, M. Voehler, D. F. Stec, N. A. Porter, and A. R. Brash (2007)
PNAS 104, 18941-18945
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Quantitative Imaging of Nitrogen Fixation by Individual Bacteria Within Animal Cells.
C. P. Lechene, Y. Luyten, G. McMahon, and D. L. Distel (2007)
Science 317, 1563-1566
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Distribution and Diversity of Archaeal Ammonia Monooxygenase Genes Associated with Corals.
J.M. Beman, K. J. Roberts, L. Wegley, F. Rohwer, and C. A. Francis (2007)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 73, 5642-5647
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Stable isotopes ({delta}13C and {delta}15N) of organic matrix from coral skeleton.
L. Muscatine, C. Goiran, L. Land, J. Jaubert, J.-P. Cuif, and D. Allemand (2005)
PNAS 102, 1525-1530
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)