| Twenty five species of cyanobacteria were identified from soils of six sites in the Mojave Desert, San Bernadino County, California. Morphological characterization revealed that these strains belong to the Oscillatoriales and Nostocales. Sequence data for the 16S rRNA (small sub-unit ribosomal RNA) and the 16S-23S ITS (Internal Transcribed Spacer) were determined for five potentially new species. Sequences were amplified using polymerase chain reaction with cyanobacteria-specific primers. A total of 21 clones belonging to seven strains were sequenced, aligned, and used to build distance and parsimony trees. The trees showed that our strains belong to at least two genera in the Pseudanabaenaceae, Arthonema and Leptolyngbya. In addition, ITS sequences were folded to infer secondary structure. Combined molecular and morphological data indicate that the genus Leptolyngbya is polyphyletic. |
