The hydrological context determines the beta-diversity of aerobic anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria in European Arctic seas but does not favor endemism

Despite an increasing number of studies over the last 15 years, aerobic anoxygenic photoheterotrophic (AAP) bacteria remain a puzzling functional group in terms of physiology, metabolism, and ecology. To contribute to a better knowledge of their environmental distribution, the present study aims at...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Frontiers in microbiology 2015-07, Vol.6, p.638-638
Main Authors: Lehours, Anne-Catherine, Jeanthon, Christian
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aerobic Anoxygenic Phototrophic Bacteria
Arctic
diversity
Environmental Sciences
Life Sciences
Microbiology
Photoheterotrophy
pufM gene
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Summary:Despite an increasing number of studies over the last 15 years, aerobic anoxygenic photoheterotrophic (AAP) bacteria remain a puzzling functional group in terms of physiology, metabolism, and ecology. To contribute to a better knowledge of their environmental distribution, the present study aims at analyzing their diversity and structure at the boundary between the Norwegian, Greenland, and Barents Seas. The polymorphism of a marker gene encoding a sub-unit of the photosynthetic apparatus (pufM gene) was analyzed and attempted to be related to environmental parameters. The Atlantic or Arctic origin of water masses had a strong impact on the AAP bacterial community structure whose populations mostly belonged to the Alpha- and Gammaproteobacteria. A majority (>60%) of pufM sequences were affiliated to the Gammaproteobacteria reasserting that this class often represents the major component of the AAP bacterial community in oceanic regions. Two alphaproteobacterial groups dominate locally suggesting that they can constitute key players in this marine system transiently. We found that temperature is a major determinant of alpha diversity of AAP bacteria in this marine biome with specific clades emerging locally according to the partitioning of water masses. Whereas we expected specific AAP bacterial populations in this peculiar and newly explored ecosystem, most pufM sequences were highly related to sequences retrieved elsewhere. This observation highlights that the studied area does not favor AAP bacteria endemism but also opens new questions about the truthfulness of biogeographical patterns and on the extent of AAP bacterial diversity.
ISSN:1664-302X
1664-302X
DOI:10.3389/fmicb.2015.00638