ORIGINAL ARTICLE A new species of Scytonema isolated from Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, India using the polyphasic approach Prashant Singh 2 • Robin A. Minz 1 • Kikku Kunui 1 • Zaid M. Shaikh 2 • Archana Suradkar 2 • Yogesh S. Shouche 2 • Arun K. Mishra 3 • Satya S. Singh 1 Received: 19 March 2016 / Accepted: 23 November 2016 Ó Springer-Verlag Wien 2017 Abstract A false branching cyanobacterium (strain 1F-PS) isolated from a fresh water body of Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh, India) is described here as a new species of the poly- phyletic genus Scytonema. Morphological, ecological, molecular and phylogenetic evidence validated the strain as a new species. Observations of the filaments in different phases of growth, different levels of microscopic studies, the presence of a textured thin sheath throughout the length of the trichome, differences in the shape and dimensions of the vegetative cells and heterocytes and ecological attri- butes show that the strain differed from the rest of the closely related species. Sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene resulted in 99% similarity with Scytonema bilaspurensis and 97.07% sequence similarity with Scytonema hofmannii PCC 7110, while rbcl and psbA sequences showed 99 and 97% similarities with S. bilaspurensis, respectively. Phy- logenetic assessments indicated a large phylogenetic dis- tance and separate clustering of the strain 1F-PS for all the molecular markers. Keywords 16S rRNA Á Phylogeny Á psbA Á rbcl Á Scytonema singhii sp. nov. Introduction Cyanobacterial taxonomy is a challenging field of study that is in a phase of revolution, with increasing description of new taxa using a combination of morphological, eco- logical and molecular data. The inherent problems of cul- turing, variations among the natural and laboratory grown cultures and an extremely intricate morphology, are all challenges that have made the study of cyanobacteria interesting but very complex. Taxonomic studies in the last decades (Anagnostidis and Koma ´rek 1985, 1988, 1990; Koma ´rek and Anagnostidis 1986, 1989; Bu ¨del and Kauff 2012; Koma ´rek et al. 2014) have indeed helped in solving the puzzling relationships to some level. The recent Su ¨ßwasserflora series on the cyanoprokaryotes (cyanobacteria) has recommended accommodating both morphological and genotypic data in congruence, along with more revisionary work (Koma ´rek 2013). The genus Scytonema is typically characterized by fil- aments irregularly coiled, or in fascicles, creeping or erect, which may be free, in colonies, or have tendency to form clusters, but very rarely forming layers (biofilms or strata) on the substrate. Usually the filaments have an envelope with firm colorless or maybe colored sheath. Some other features of this genus include the appearance of filaments or thallus usually in the form of clusters, or prostrate with entangled filaments and cells mostly green, olive green, blue green or yellowish (Koma ´rek 2013). The type species is Scytonema hofmannii, and till date about 320 species have been described in this genus. Koma ´rek et al. (2014) have placed the genus Scytonema in the family Handling editor: Ricarda Riina. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00606-016-1370-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. & Satya S. Singh satyashila@rediffmail.com 1 Department of Botany, Guru Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya, Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh 495009, India 2 Microbial Culture Collection (MCC), National Centre for Cell Science (NCCS), Pune, India 3 Laboratory of Microbial Genetics, Department of Botany, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221005, India 123 Plant Syst Evol DOI 10.1007/s00606-016-1370-y