Missing Puzzle Piece: Adding Novel Locations to the Map of Synechococcus A/B Diversity

Max Q. Berndt
Fri, 17 Apr 2026 10:45:00 PDT

Synechococcus A/B (SynAB) cyanobacteria are found only in North America and include the most thermotolerant photosynthetic organisms on Earth. As thermophiles, SynAB have intriguing implications for understanding the process of thermal adaptation with potential insights for how organisms may respond to our steadily warming climate. This study aims to compare the genomes and thermotolerance of three newly isolated strains of SynAB from previously unstudied Idaho hot springs. I will first place the isolated strains into an existing phylogenetic tree of SynAB comprised of samples from Oregon and Yellowstone National Park. Next, I will use growth experiments to characterize the thermotolerance limit of each strain. This project fills a geographic gap in our current knowledge of SynAB diversity between where we have samples from (Oregon and Wyoming) and will therefore help us understand how SynAB has diversified as the North American Tectonic Plate moved across the hotspot that has created these spots of thermal activity. Together, this study will increase our scientific understanding of the evolution of thermotolerance limits of these amazing extremophiles.

C Logan Pierpont, Jacob J Baroch, Matthew J Church, Scott R Miller, Idiosyncratic genome evolution of the thermophilic cyanobacterium Synechococcus at the limits of phototrophy, The ISME Journal, Volume 18, Issue 1, January 2024, wrae184, https://doi.org/10.1093/ismejo/wrae184