The use of DGGE analyses to explore eastern Mediterranean and Red Sea marine picophytoplankton assemblages

Gil Zeidner, Oded Béjà

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

In vast areas of the oceans, most marine photosynthetic production is performed by cells smaller than 2-3 μm (picoplankton). Here, we report on denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analyses of naturally occurring marine oxygenic picophytoplankton using the conserved photosynthetic psbA gene. The psbA gene proved to be a good indicator for picophytoplankton presence and was shown to work with DGGE. The DGGE results show the distribution of photosynthetic marine groups belonging to cyanobacteria and the eukaryotic prasinophytes (green algae) in the Red and eastern Mediterranean Seas in the seasons examined. The present study demonstrates the value of DGGE as a tool for rapid analyses of natural marine communities of picophytoplankton.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)528-534
Number of pages7
JournalEnvironmental Microbiology
Volume6
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - May 2004
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Microbiology
  • Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

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