Open AccessRoseobacter -Like Bacteria in Red and Mediterranean Sea Aerobic Anoxygenic Photosynthetic Populations
Author(s) -
Aia Oz,
Gazalah Sabehi,
Michal Koblížek,
Ramón Massana,
Oded Béjà
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
applied and environmental microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.552
H-Index - 324
eISSN - 1070-6291
pISSN - 0099-2240
DOI - 10.1128/aem.71.1.344-353.2005
Subject(s) - anoxygenic photosynthesis , roseobacter , biology , phototroph , proteobacteria , alphaproteobacteria , mediterranean sea , bacteroidetes , botany , ecology , bacteria , mediterranean climate , photosynthesis , genetics , phylogenetics , gene , 16s ribosomal rna , clade
Bacteriochlorophyll a-containing aerobic anoxygenic phototrophs (AAnP) have been proposed to account for up to 11% of the total surface water microbial community and to potentially have great ecological importance in the world's oceans. Recently, environmental and genomic data based on analysis of the pufM gene identified the existence of alpha-proteobacteria as well as possible gamma-like proteobacteria among AAnP in the Pacific Ocean. Here we report on analyses of environmental samples from the Red and Mediterranean Seas by using pufM as well as the bchX and bchL genes as molecular markers. The majority of photosynthesis genes retrieved from these seas were related to Roseobacter-like AAnP sequences. Furthermore, the sequence of a novel photosynthetic operon organization from an uncultured Roseobacter-like bacterial artificial chromosome retrieved from the Red Sea is described. The data show the presence of Roseobacter-like bacteria in Red and Mediterranean Sea AAnP populations in the seasons analyzed.