Editing Prochlorococcus (section)

==Discovery==
Although there had been several earlier records of very small chlorophyll-''b''-containing cyanobacteria in the ocean,<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.4319/lo.1979.24.5.0928 |first1=P.W. |last1=Johnson |author2-link=John McNeill Sieburth |first2=J.M. |last2=Sieburth |year=1979 |title=Chroococcoid cyanobacteria in the sea: a ubiquitous and diverse phototrophic biomass |journal=Limnology and Oceanography |volume=24 |pages=928–935 |issue=5|bibcode=1979LimOc..24..928J }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.4319/lo.1983.28.4.0757 |first1=W.W.C. |last1=Gieskes |first2=G.W. |last2=Kraay  |year=1983 |title=Unknown chlorophyll ''a'' derivatives in the North Sea and the tropical Atlantic Ocean revealed by HPLC analysis |journal=Limnology and Oceanography |volume=28 |pages=757–766 |issue=4|bibcode=1983LimOc..28..757G |doi-access=free }}</ref> ''Prochlorococcus'' was discovered in 1986<ref>{{cite journal |first1=S.W. |last1=Chisholm |first2=R.J. |last2=Olson |first3=E.R. |last3=Zettler |first4=J. |last4=Waterbury |first5=R. |last5=Goericke |first6=N. |last6=Welschmeyer |year=1988 |title=A novel free-living prochlorophyte occurs at high cell concentrations in the oceanic euphotic zone |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |volume=334 |pages=340–3 |doi=10.1038/334340a0 |issue=6180 |bibcode=1988Natur.334..340C|s2cid=4373102 }}</ref> by [[Sallie W. Chisholm|Sallie W. (Penny) Chisholm]] of the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]], Robert J. Olson of the [[Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution]], and other collaborators in the [[Sargasso Sea]] using [[flow cytometry]]. Chisholm was awarded the [[Crafoord Prize]] in 2019 for the discovery.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Crafoord Prize in Biosciences 2019|url=https://www.crafoordprize.se/press_release/the-crafoord-prize-in-biosciences-2019|publisher=Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences|date=January 17, 2019|access-date=April 26, 2022}}</ref> The first culture of ''Prochlorococcus'' was isolated in the Sargasso Sea in 1988 ([[strain (biology)|strain]] SS120) and shortly another strain was obtained from the [[Mediterranean Sea]] (strain MED). The name ''Prochlorococcus''<ref>{{cite journal |author-link1=Sallie W. Chisholm |first1=S.W. |last1=Chisholm |first2=S.L. |last2=Frankel |first3=R. |last3=Goericke |first4=R.J. |last4=Olson |first5=B. |last5=Palenik |first6=J.B. |last6=Waterbury |first7=L. |last7=West-Johnsrud |first8=E.R. |last8=Zettler |year=1992 |title=''Prochlorococcus marinus'' nov. gen. nov. sp.: an oxyphototrophic marine prokaryote containing divinyl chlorophyll a and b |journal=Archives of Microbiology |volume=157 |pages=297–300 |doi=10.1007/BF00245165 |issue=3|bibcode=1992ArMic.157..297C |s2cid=32682912 }}</ref> originated from the fact it was originally assumed that ''Prochlorococcus'' was related to ''[[Prochloron]]'' and other chlorophyll-''b''-containing bacteria, called prochlorophytes, but it is now known that prochlorophytes form several separate [[Phylogenetic tree|phylogenetic]] groups within the cyanobacteria subgroup of the [[bacteria]] domain. The only species within the genus described is ''Prochlorococcus marinus'', although two subspecies have been named for low-light and high-light adapted niche variations.<ref name="NCBI">{{Cite web |title=''Prochlorococcus marinus'' |url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/data-hub/taxonomy/1219/ |access-date=2022-04-25 |website=NCBI |language=en}}</ref>