Elucidating diversity of thin filamentous mat-forming Antarctic cyanobacteria

Freshwater ecosystems range from glacial cryoecosystems, ice shelf meltwater ponds to perennially ice-covered lakes where conspicuous benthic microbial mat communities constitute most of the biomass. In these mats, cyanobacteria form matrices that shelter other organisms, and carry out the primary production. Narrow filamentous cyanobacteria belonging to the genera Leptolyngbya and Phormidium are especially abundant in Antarctic microbial mats and are essential for the formation of matrix. However, the lack of morphological criteria and the small cell size of cyanobacteria belonging to these two genera make their identification problematic. Indeed, they are known as polyphyletic taxa according to botanical and bacteriological criteria. The characterization of strains is the first step for an assessment of the real diversity and for understanding their role in the environment. We designed a polyphasic approach that combines molecular analyses, environmental physiology experiments and microscopic observations. Briefly, we amplified and sequenced three loci (16S rRNA, ITS, and rpoC1) for 31 strains of Leptolyngbya and Phormidium. We performed whole genome sequencing for five strains. Cultures at different stage were observed by light and epifluorescence microscopy. Finally, selected strains were grown in nitrogen-limited. The Leptolyngbya and Phormidium strains were distributed into four lineages. Phylogenetic trees supported the distribution of P. priestleyi strains into at least two potentially new lineages, and L. antarctica strains were separated into one endemic and one cosmopolitan lineage. This was supported by the microscopic observations of 1-year old cultures. Genome analyses revealed the presence of sequences related to the production of secondary metabolites in strains from two of the studied lineages. Secondary metabolites are often known for their antimicrobial activities. Such properties would partly explain how cyanobacterial mats survive to predation and degradation by other bacteria. This work provides the first building block to the understanding of survival strategies developed by mat-forming cyanobacteria and how they succeeded as the most abundant phototrophs on the Antarctic continent. This work was realized in the frame of the BelSPo project CCAMBIO