Journal of Phycology

Cyanobacterial taxonomy is facing a period of rapid changes thanks to the ease of 16S rRNA gene sequencing and established workflows for description of new taxa. Since the last comprehensive review of the cyanobacterial system in 2014 until 2021, at least 273 species in 140 genera were newly described. These taxa were mainly placed into previously defined orders and families although several new families were proposed. However, the classification of most taxa still relied on hierarchical relationships inherited from the classical morphological taxonomy. Similarly, the obviously polyphyletic orders such as Synechococcales and Oscillatoriales were left unchanged. In this study, the rising number of genomic sequences of cyanobacteria and well‐described reference strains allowed us to reconstruct a robust phylogenomic tree for taxonomic purposes. A less robust but better sampled 16S rRNA gene phylogeny was mapped to the phylogenomic backbone. Based on both these phylogenies, a polyphasic classification throughout the whole phylum of Cyanobacteria was created, with ten new orders and fifteen new families. The proposed system of cyanobacterial orders and families relied on a phylogenomic tree but still employed phenotypic apomorphies where possible to make it useful for professionals in the field. It was, however, confirmed that morphological convergence of phylogenetically distant taxa was a frequent phenomenon in cyanobacteria. Moreover, the limited phylogenetic informativeness of the 16S rRNA gene, resulting in ambiguous phylogenies above the genus level, emphasized the integration of genomic data as a prerequisite for the conclusive taxonomic placement of a vast number of cyanobacterial genera in the future.

The Synechococcales is a large cyanobacterial order comprising both unicellular and filamentous forms, with parietal thylakoid arrangement. Previously, this order has been the subject of taxonomic revisions with new families being erected. During studies of the phototrophic communities on the limestone walls of the Old Cathedral of Coimbra (UNESCO monument), a coccoid Aphanocapsa‐like cyanobacterium was isolated. It was characterized using a polyphasic approach, based on morphology, 16S rRNA phylogenetic and phylogenomic analyses, internal transcribed spacer (ITS) secondary structure, and ecology. The 16S rRNA phylogenetic analyses showed that this strain is placed in a separate and highly supported family‐level clade, as part of a large group comprising the families Prochlorococcaceae and Prochlorotrichaceae, with Lagosinema as the closest (although quite distant) taxon. Additionally, the phylogenomic analysis also placed this strain in a separate lineage, situated distantly apart from the family Thermosynechococcaceae, but with strains assigned to Acaryochloris marina MBIC 11017 and Aphanocapsa montana BDHKU210001 as the closest taxa. Based on these data, as well as on the results from the secondary ITS structure, morphology, and ecology, we here propose the establishment of Petrachlorosaceae fam. nov., along with the description of Petrachloros gen. nov. and Petrachloros mirabilis sp. nov. We also address additional considerations regarding some cyanobacterial taxa within the order Synechococcales, which we believe deserve further revisions.

South Florida (USA) has a subtropical to tropical climate with an extensive and diverse coastline that supports the growth of benthic cyanobacterial mats (BCMs). These BCMs are widespread and potentially house numerous bioactive compounds; however, the extent of the cyanobacterial diversity within these mats remains largely unknown. To elucidate this diversity, BCMs from select locations in South Florida were sampled and isolated into unicyanobacterial cultures for morphological and molecular studies. Phylogenetic relationships of isolated taxa were assessed using the markers 16S rRNA and 16S‐23S rRNA ITS by both maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference. We propose Affixifilum gen. nov. based on morphological characteristics and the 16S rRNA phylogeny. Two species are included: Affixifilum granulosum comb nov. (=Neolyngbya granulosa) found in Brazil and Florida (USA) and A. floridanum sp. nov. Several other features, including pair‐wise distance of 16S rRNA and 16S‐23S rRNA ITS, 16S‐23S rRNA ITS secondary structure, morphology, and ecology, provide support for Affixifilum. We also propose the transfer of Lyngbya regalis to Neolyngbya as N. regalis comb. nov. and include the description of one novel species, N. biscaynensis sp. nov.

A redefinition of the cyanobacterial lineage has been proposed based on phylogenomic analysis of distantly related nonphototrophic lineages. We define Cyanobacteria here as “Organisms in the domain bacteria able to carry out oxygenic photosynthesis with water as an electron donor and to reduce carbon dioxide as a source of carbon, or those secondarily evolved from such organisms.”

The systematics of single‐celled cyanobacteria represents a major challenge due to morphological convergence and application of various taxonomic concepts. The genus Cyanothece is one of the most problematic cases, as the name has been applied to oval‐shaped coccoid cyanobacteria lacking sheaths with little regard to their phylogenetic position and details of morphology and ultrastructure. Hereby we analyze an extensive set of complementary genetic and phenotypic evidence to disentangle the relationships among these cyanobacteria. We provide diagnostic characters to separate the known genera Cyanothece, Gloeothece, and Aphanothece, and provide a valid description for Crocosphaera gen. nov. We describe two new genera, Rippkaea and Zehria, to characterize two distinct phylogenetic lineages outside the previously known genera. We further describe 13 new species in total including Cyanothece svehlovae, Gloeothece aequatorialis, G. aurea, G. bryophila, G. citriformis, G. reniformis, Gloeothece tonkinensis, G. verrucosa, Crocosphaera watsonii, C. subtropica, C. chwakensis, Rippkaea orientalis, and Zehria floridana to recognize the intrageneric diversity as rendered by polyphasic analysis. We discuss the close relationship of free‐living cyanobacteria from the Crocosphaera lineage to nitrogen‐fixing endosymbionts of marine algae. The current study includes several experimental strains (Crocosphaera and “Cyanothece”) important for the study of diazotrophy and the global oceanic nitrogen cycle, and provides evidence suggesting ancestral N2‐fixing capability in the chroococcalean lineage.