title: Roseobacter-like bacteria in red and mediterranean sea aerobic anoxygenic photosynthetic populations.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000, Israel.
authors.forename: Aia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Oz
authors.forename: Gazalah
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sabehi
authors.forename: Michal
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Koblízek
authors.forename: Ramon
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Massana
authors.forename: Oded
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Béjà
mesh_terms: D000332:Aerobiosis; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000693:Anaerobiosis; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D001429:Bacteriochlorophylls / Q000378:metabolism; D019156:Indian Ocean; D008522:Mediterranean Sea; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010788:Photosynthesis; D045322:Photosynthetic Reaction Center Complex Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D010802:Phylogeny; D041904:Roseobacter / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000502:physiology; D012623:Seawater / Q000382:microbiology*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D001429:Bacteriochlorophylls; D045322:Photosynthetic Reaction Center Complex Proteins; C098543:PufM protein, Bacteria