This paper is a contribution to the morphological and molecular characterization of the cyanobacterium Brasilonema roberti-lamii from populations found in Central Mexico. The general growth form and the morphological, morphometric and ecological characteristics of the populations studied clearly correspond to those described for Brasilonema roberti-lamii (basionym: Tolypothrix roberti-lamii) from the French Antilles. Based on molecular data from DNA sequencing of the16S rRNA gene and the IGS of the cpcB-cpcA phycocyanin operon (cpcBA-IGS), we propose that the populations that we studied are closely related to those of other Brasilonema species, including B. octagenarum UFV-OR1, UFV-E1 and HA4187-MV1-p1F, Brasilonema sennae CENA 114, B. tolantongensis, B. terrestre CENA 116, B. angustatum HA4187-MV1-B2+p1F and HA4187-MV1-B2+p1H and B. bromeliae SPC951. Our findings support the transference of Tolypothrix roberti-lamii, which was made based exclusively on morphological criteria, to Brasilonema. The use of molecular analyses in addition to traditional morphological and ecological criteria, known as polyphasic approach, is a good alternative to describe taxa of cyanobacteria, mainly at the genus and species levels.
Morphological and Molecular Characterization of Brasilonema roberti-lamii (Cyanophyceae, Nostocales, Scytonemataceae), from Central Mexico
