Proteorhodopsin in the ubiquitous marine bacterium SAR11

Stephen J. Giovannoni (), Lisa Bibbs, Jang-Cheon Cho, Martha D. Stapels, Russell Desiderio, Kevin L. Vergin, Michael S. Rappé, Samuel Laney, Lawrence J. Wilhelm, H. James Tripp, Eric J. Mathur and Douglas F. Barofsky
Additional contact information
Stephen J. Giovannoni: Department of Microbiology
Lisa Bibbs: Diversa Corporation
Jang-Cheon Cho: Department of Microbiology
Martha D. Stapels: Department of Chemistry
Russell Desiderio: Oregon State University
Kevin L. Vergin: Department of Microbiology
Michael S. Rappé: Department of Microbiology
Samuel Laney: Oregon State University
Lawrence J. Wilhelm: Department of Microbiology
H. James Tripp: Department of Microbiology
Eric J. Mathur: Diversa Corporation
Douglas F. Barofsky: Department of Chemistry

Nature, 2005, vol. 438, issue 7064, 82-85

Abstract: SAR11: basking in the light Proteorhodopsin genes were discovered, as DNA fragments in sea water, long before anybody knew what organisms they came from. They encode light-dependent proton pumps that are thought to have a central role in ocean ecology by supplying the energy for microbial metabolism, and now the intact proteorhodopsin system has been tracked down. It is found in SAR11, one of the most abundant organisms on the planet. SAR11, recently renamed Pelagibacter ubique, was synonymous with uncultured microbial diversity until it was first cultured in 2002. These organisms have proteorhodopsin proton pumps and have the odd (for a light-gatherer) ability to grow equally as well in the dark as in the light. SAR11 is out there in the oceans competing with the likes of cyanobacteria for a niche amongst the bacterioplankton. Now it seems that the cyanobacteria may have outside assistance. Viruses (or phages) that infect the ubiquitous cyanobacteria Prochlorococcus do more than just use their DNA to force the host to make more phage. The viral genome contains photosynthesis genes, possibly captured from cyanobacterial hosts long ago. These encode proteins that combine with host photosynthetic machinery to ensure that the host provides the phage with the energy necessary to produce phage progeny.

Date: 2005
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature04032 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:438:y:2005:i:7064:d:10.1038_nature04032

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/nature04032

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().