Polyhydroxybutyrate production by freshwater SAR11 (LD12).

ABSTRACT: SAR11 bacteria (order Pelagibacterales) are oligotrophs and often the most abundant bacterioplankton in aquatic environments. A subset of sequenced SAR11 genomes, predominantly in the brackish and freshwater SAR11 subclades, contain homologs of pha genes, which in other organisms confer the ability to store carbon and energy via polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) polymers. Here, we investigated the relevance of PHA production to SAR11 biology. Phylogenetics showed that Pha proteins occurred on a long branch and provided evidence for origin at the common ancestor of the brackish IIIa and freshwater LD12 subclades, followed by horizontal transfer within SAR11. Using the LD12 representative "Candidatus Fonsibacter ubiquis" strain LSUCC0530, we found that many LSUCC0530 cells contained a single Nile r

SUBMITTER: Bennett BD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12113158 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature