title: Diversity and activity of marine bacterioplankton during a diatom bloom in the North Sea assessed by total RNA and pyrotag sequencing.
abstract: A recent investigation of bacterioplankton communities in the German Bight towards the end of a diatom-dominated spring phytoplankton bloom revealed pronounced successions of distinct bacterial clades. A combination of metagenomics and metaproteomics indicated that these clades had distinct substrate spectra and consumed different algal substrates. In this study we re-analyzed samples from the initial study by total community RNA (metatranscriptomics) and 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. This complementary approach provided new insights into the community composition and expressed genes as well as the assessment of metabolic activity levels of distinct clades. Flavobacteria (genera Ulvibacter, Formosa, and Polaribacter), Alphaproteobacteria (SAR11 clade and Rhodobacteraceae) and Gammaproteobacteria (genus Reinekea and SAR92 clade) were the most abundant taxa. Mapping of the metatranscriptome data on assembled and taxonomically classified metagenome data of the same samples substantiated that Formosa and Polaribacter acted as major algal polymer degraders, whereas Rhodobacteraceae and Reinekea spp. exhibited less specialized substrate spectra. In addition, we found that members of the Rhodobacteraceae and SAR92 clade showed high metabolic activity levels, which suggests that these clades played a more important role during the bloom event as indicated by their in situ abundances.
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Microbial Genomics and Bioinformatics Research Group, Celsiusstraße 1, 28359 Bremen, Germany; Jacobs University gGmbH Bremen, School of Engineering and Sciences, Campusring 1, 28759 Bremen, Germany. Electronic address: aklindwo@mpi-bremen.de.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Klindworth
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Microbial Genomics and Bioinformatics Research Group, Celsiusstraße 1, 28359 Bremen, Germany; Jacobs University gGmbH Bremen, School of Engineering and Sciences, Campusring 1, 28759 Bremen, Germany.
authors.forename: Alexander J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Mann
authors.affiliation: Leibniz-Institut DSMZ-Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen GmbH, Inhoffenstraße 7B, 38124 Braunschweig, Germany.
authors.forename: Sixing
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Biologische Anstalt Helgoland, Kurpromenade 201, 27483 Helgoland, Germany.
authors.forename: Antje
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wichels
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Microbial Genomics and Bioinformatics Research Group, Celsiusstraße 1, 28359 Bremen, Germany.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Quast
authors.affiliation: Ribocon GmbH, Fahrenheitstraße 1, 28359 Bremen, Germany.
authors.forename: Jost
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Waldmann
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Molecular Ecology Group, Celsiusstraße 1, 28359 Bremen, Germany.
authors.forename: Hanno
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Teeling
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Microbial Genomics and Bioinformatics Research Group, Celsiusstraße 1, 28359 Bremen, Germany; Jacobs University gGmbH Bremen, School of Engineering and Sciences, Campusring 1, 28759 Bremen, Germany.
authors.forename: Frank Oliver
authors.initials: FO
authors.lastname: Glöckner
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000235:genetics; D017377:Diatoms / Q000382:microbiology*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D014644:Genetic Variation; D056186:Metagenomics / Q000379:methods; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009659:North Sea; D010933:Plankton / Q000235:genetics*; D011157:Population Dynamics; D040901:Proteomics / Q000379:methods; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA; D013045:Species Specificity; D059467:Transcriptome / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S
keywords: Bacterial succession; Bacterioplankton bloom; CAZymes; Metatranscriptomics; Phytoplankton bloom; Pyrotags