P106: Potential Symbiotic Bacterium of new Genus Associated with Cyanobacteria

Moorea producens JHB is a filamentous cyanobacterium that was collected in Hector Bay, Jamaica and it is the producer of the secondary metabolites Jamaicamide and Hectochlorin. This cyanobacterium forms a protective mucinous layer around its filaments, however this layer also contains heterotrophic bacteria. Recently the genomic DNA of Moorea producens JHB was isolated, sequenced and assembled.  The assembled sequences consisted of two different populations of sequences, one population with a GC content of 43% and another with a GC content of 60%. The low GC% belongs to the genomic DNA of Moorea producens JHB and the high GC% seems to be from a different bacterium.  The high GC bacterium has an assembled genome of ~6MB. This bacterium might be living in the sheath of Moorea producens JHB, however, several attempts to culture the bacterium have been unsuccessful.  The 16S rRNA shows only a 95% identity with a sequence from an uncultured bacterium (NCBI data base). Future research will include localizing the bacterium using in situ hybridization, further attempts to culture the bacterium, analysis of its metabolic capacity and examination of its potential secondary metabolite pathways.