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Genetic Diversity Of Filamentous Cyanobacteria From Shore Regions Of Okinawa, Shoichiro Suda, Rui Moriya, Shinpei Sumimoto, Osamu Ohno, Kiyotake Suenaga

Journal of Marine Science and Technology

Benthic marine cyanobacteria are ubiquitous oxygenic photosynthetic bacteria and they form major components of various communities, including epiphytic, epilithic and microbial mats, in coral reef environments. Filamentous groups may form almost monospecific macroscopic colonies, and sometimes make potentially harmful algal blooms (HABs). HABs bring serious problems for marine tourism but marine filamentous cyanobacteria are good resource for drug discovery. However, cultivation and identification of such filamentous cyanobacteria are difficult and there are taxonomic confusions. In this study, we investigate 17 samples from coral reef area of 10 localities in Okinawa. Macroscopic mats or cushions of filamentous cyanobacteria were collected. The …