Synechocystis is a genus of unicellular, freshwater cyanobacteria in the family Merismopediaceae. It includes a strain, Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803, which is a well studied model organism.
Synechocystis | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Bacteria |
Phylum: | Cyanobacteria |
Class: | Cyanophyceae |
Order: | Synechococcales |
Family: | Merismopediaceae |
Genus: | Synechocystis Sauvageau, 1892[1] |
Like all cyanobacteria, Synechocystis branches on the evolutionary tree from its ancestral root, Gloeobacter violaceus.[2] Synechocystis is not diazotrophic, and is closely related to another model organism, Cyanothece ATCC 51442.[3] It has been suggested that originally Synechocystis possessed the ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen, but lost the genes required for the process.[4]