Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2023

Publication Title

Journal of Phycology

Abstract

Knowledge of the tropical terrestrial cyanobacterial flora from the African con-tinent is still limited. Of 31 strains isolated from soil and subaerial samples col-lected in Lagos State, Nigeria, three were found to be in the Oculatellaceae,including two species in a new genus. Subsequently, isolates from micro-bial mats in White Sands National Park in New Mexico, United States, andfrom a rock near the ocean in Puerto Rico, United States, were found tobelong to the new genus as well. Cyanobacterial isolates were character-ized microscopically, sequenced for the 16S rRNA gene and associated ITSregion, and phylogenetically analyzed. Egbenema gen. nov., with three newspecies, as well as two new species of Albertania were differentiated fromall other Oculatellaceae. Both genera belong to a supported clade within theOculatellaceae that includes Trichotorquatus and Komarkovaea. The two newspecies of Albertania, A. egbensis and A. latericola, were from the same sam-ple, but were evolutionarily separate based on 16S rRNA gene phylogenies,percent identity below the 98.7% threshold, and ITS rRNA percent dissimi-larity >7.0%. Egbenema aeruginosum gen. et sp. nov. was phylogeneticallyseparated from Trichotorquatus and Albertania but was in a clade with otherstrains belonging to Egbenema. The two Egbenema strains from the UnitedStates are here named Egbenema epilithicum sp. nov. and Egbenemagypsiphilum sp. nov. Our results support the hypothesis that further speciesdiscoveries of novel cyanobacteria will likely be made in soils and subaerialhabitats, as these habitats continue to be studied, both in tropical and tem-perate biomes.

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