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Research articles

ScienceAsia 34 (2008): 153-162 |doi: 10.2306/scienceasia1513-1874.2008.34.153


Morphological and phylogenic diversity of cyanobacterial populations in six hot springs of Thailand


Udomluk Somponga, Somboon Anuntalabhochaia, Robert W. Cutlerb*, Richard W. Castenholzc, and Yuwadee Peerapornpisala

 
ABSTRACT:     To characterize the phylogenetic and morphological diversity of cyanobacteria in Thailand, cyanobacteria were collected from mats in six hot springs with water temperatures ranging from 40 to 75 ÿC. Samples were collected for culture isolation, microscopic morphological examination, and molecular analysis of the 16S rRNA sequence to establish the levels of morphological versus genomic diversity. Fourteen cyanobacterial morphotypes were investigated using microscopy with the dominant species of cyanobacteria being Synechococcus spp., Phormidium cf. boryanum and Leptolyngbya spp. A total of 20 distinct isolates of cyanobacteria were grown in culture medium, and an additional 79 samples were examined using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and DNA sequence analysis to establish phylogenetic relationships. The observed decrease in morphological diversity with increasing water temperature was found to be compensated for by an increase in molecular sequence diversity of the morphologically indistinguishable cyanobacterial species. Molecular clines were found to span both temperature and geophysical boundaries for samples from the northern and southern Thailand regions.

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a Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Mahasarakam University, Khamring, Kantarawichai, Mahasarakham 44150, Thailand.
b Bard College, Annandale New York, 12504, U.S.A.
c Center for Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Oregon, 97403, U.S.A.

* Corresponding author, E-mail: cutler121@gmail.com

Received 9 Jul 2007, Accepted 30 May 2008