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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, July 2007, p. 4198-4205, Vol. 73, No. 13
0099-2240/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.02652-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

High Abundances of Aerobic Anoxygenic Photosynthetic Bacteria in the South Pacific Ocean

Université Pierre et Marie Curie-Paris 6 and CNRS, UMR7621, F-66650 Banyuls-sur-Mer, France,¹ University of Delaware, College of Marine and Earth Studies, Lewes, Delaware 19958,² CNRS and Université Pierre et Marie Curie-Paris 6, Laboratoire d'Océanographie de Villefranche, 06230 Villefranche-sur-Mer, France,³ Departamento de Oceanografía, Centro de Investigación Oceanográfica en el Pacífico Sudoriental, Universidad de Concepción, PROFC-Cabina 7, Casilla 160-C, Concepción 3, Chile⁴

Received 13 November 2006/ Accepted 17 April 2007

Little is known about the abundance, distribution, and ecology of aerobic anoxygenic phototrophic (AAP) bacteria, particularly in oligotrophic environments, which represent 60% of the ocean. We investigated the abundance of AAP bacteria across the South Pacific Ocean, including the center of the gyre, the most oligotrophic water body of the world ocean. AAP bacteria, Prochlorococcus, and total prokaryotic abundances, as well as bacteriochlorophyll a (BChl a) and divinyl-chlorophyll a concentrations, were measured at several depths in the photic zone along a gradient of oligotrophic conditions. The abundances of AAP bacteria and Prochlorococcus were high, together accounting for up to 58% of the total prokaryotic community. The abundance of AAP bacteria alone was up to 1.94 x 10⁵ cells ml^–1 and as high as 24% of the overall community. These measurements were consistent with the high BChl a concentrations (up to 3.32 x 10^–3 µg liter^–1) found at all stations. However, the BChl a content per AAP bacterial cell was low, suggesting that AAP bacteria are mostly heterotrophic organisms. Interestingly, the biovolume and therefore biomass of AAP bacteria was on average twofold higher than that of other prokaryotic cells. This study demonstrates that AAP bacteria can be abundant in various oligotrophic conditions, including the most oligotrophic regime of the world ocean, and can account for a large part of the bacterioplanktonic carbon stock.

Published ahead of print on 11 May 2007.

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