Evidence map›Paper›PMID 20173737›Full record

ArticleNature2010

Metabolic streamlining in an open-ocean nitrogen-fixing cyanobacterium.

H James Tripp, Shellie R Bench, Kendra A Turk, Rachel A Foster, Brian A Desany, Faheem Niazi, Jason P Affourtit, Jonathan P Zehr

Abstract read
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Nature, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 121 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
121citing papers in PubMed
41.5field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

121 citing papers in PubMed, 349 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Review
  2. Diel remodeling and cellular integration of the nitroplast.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026
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61 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

H James TrippOcean Sciences Department, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, California 95064, USA.
Shellie R Bench
Kendra A Turk
Rachel A Foster
Brian A Desany
Faheem Niazi
Jason P Affourtit
Jonathan P Zehr
University of California, Santa Cruz · USRoche (United States) · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Nitrogen (N(2))-fixing marine cyanobacteria are an important source of fixed inorganic nitrogen that supports oceanic primary productivity and carbon dioxide removal from the atmosphere. A globally distributed, periodically abundant N(2)-fixing marine cyanobacterium, UCYN-A, was recently found to lack the oxygen-producing photosystem II complex of the photosynthetic apparatus, indicating a novel metabolism, but remains uncultivated. Here we show, from metabolic reconstructions inferred from the assembly of the complete UCYN-A genome using massively parallel pyrosequencing of paired-end reads, that UCYN-A has a photofermentative metabolism and is dependent on other organisms for essential compounds. We found that UCYN-A lacks a number of major metabolic pathways including the tricarboxylic acid cycle, but retains sufficient electron transport capacity to generate energy and reducing power from light. Unexpectedly, UCYN-A has a reduced genome (1.44 megabases) that is structurally similar to many chloroplasts and some bacteria, in that it contains inverted repeats of ribosomal RNA operons. The lack of biosynthetic pathways for several amino acids and purines suggests that this organism depends on other organisms, either in close association or in symbiosis, for critical nutrients. However, size fractionation experiments using natural populations have so far not provided evidence of a symbiotic association with another microorganism. The UCYN-A cyanobacterium is a paradox in evolution and adaptation to the marine environment, and is an example of the tight metabolic coupling between microorganisms in oligotrophic oceanic microbial communities.

Indexed as

CarbonChromosomes, BacterialCyanobacteriaElectron TransportGenome, BacterialGenomicsMarine BiologyMolecular Sequence DataNitrogenNitrogen FixationOceans and SeasOxidoreductasesSeawaterCarbonNitrogennitrogenase reductaseOxidoreductases

Identifiers

PMID20173737
OpenAlexW2108212751

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.