Prochlorococcus marinus nov. gen. nov. sp. an oxyphototrophic marine prokaryote containing divinyl chlorophyll a and b

Several years ago, prochlorophyte picoplankton were discovered in the N. Atlantic. They have since been found to be abundant within the euphotic zone of the world's tropical and temperate oceans. The cells are extremely small, lack phycobiliproteins, and contain divinyl chlorophyll a and b as their primary photosynthetic pigments. Phylogenies constructed from DNA sequence data indicate that these cells are more closely related to a cluster of marine cyanobacteria than to their prochlorophyte 'relatives' Prochlorothrix and Prochloron. Several strains of this organism have recently been brought into culture, and herewith are given the name Prochlorococcus marinus.