Mixotrophs are important components of the bacterioplankton, phytoplankton,
microzooplankton, and (sometimes) zooplankton in coastal and oceanic waters. Bacterivory …

SAR11 is a group of small, carbon-oxidizing bacteria that reach a global estimated
population size of 2.4× 1028 cells—approximately 25% of all plankton. They are found …

Salinity is a major factor controlling the distribution of biota in aquatic systems, and most
aquatic multicellular organisms are either adapted to life in saltwater or freshwater …

Very little is known about growth rates of individual bacterial taxa and how they respond to
environmental flux. Here, we characterized bacterial community diversity, structure and the …

Hadal oceans at water depths below 6,000 m are the least-explored aquatic biosphere. The
Challenger Deep, located in the western equatorial Pacific, with a water depth of∼ 11 km, is …

Genome sequencing projects are revealing new information about the distribution and
evolution of photosynthesis and phototrophy. Although coverage of the five phyla containing …

Metagenomics is expanding our knowledge of the gene content, functional significance, and
genetic variability in natural microbial communities. Still, there exists limited information …

The recognition of a new family of rhodopsins in marine planktonic bacteria, proton-pumping
proteorhodopsin, expanded the known phylogenetic range, environmental distribution, and …

The Roseobacter lineage is a phylogenetically coherent, physiologically heterogeneous
group of α-Proteobacteria comprising up to 25% of marine microbial communities, especially …

Recognition of the environmental role of photoheterotrophic bacteria has been one of the
main themes of aquatic microbiology over the last 15 years. Aside from cyanobacteria and …