A cyanobacterium collected from the Gulf of Mexico. Synechococcus sp. M16.17

Synechococcus sp. M16.17. This strain was collected from the Gulf of Mexico at a depth of 275 m. It was isolated from a single colony. Strain M16.17 has the ability to chromatically adapt, and change its relative capacity to absorb green and blue-green wavelengths by synthesizing chromatically different forms of the pigment phycoerythrin depending on how monochromatically blue the light field is. This adaptive mechanism for chromatic adaptation does not involve differential expression of two different PEs but rather, a modification of the chromophore composition on one of the PEs. This is a completely novel form of chromatic adaptation, never before found in a cyanobacterium.