XVI International Botanical Congess

An approximately 600 base pair region of the 16S rDNA gene was sequenced for eight samples of taxa from the Oscillatoriales clade in order to assess phylogenetic relationships. A parsimony tree was constructed using these and previously published sequences for taxa within this clade and other Cyanobacteria. The consensus tree showed two distinct clades, but these were not well supported by the bootstrap analysis. None of the genera (Phormidium, Oscillatoria, Lyngbya) sequenced formed monophyletic clades and were variously associated. Our samples were from the Antarctic, Canada and Alaska. These samples from disjunct habitats did not show any geographic pattern with the collections from the Antarctic were not genetically similar.