Pyrosequencing analysis of aerobic anoxygenic phototrophic bacterial community structure in the oligotrophic western Pacific Ocean

Aerobic anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria (AAPB) represent a widespread functional bacterial group defined by their obligate aerobic and facultative photoheterotrophic abilities. They are an active part of the marine microbial community as revealed by a large number of previous investigations. Here, we made an in-depth comparison of AAPB community structures in the subsurface water and the upper twilight zone of the western Pacific Ocean using high-throughput sequencing based on the pufM gene. Approximately, 100 000 sequences, grouped into 159 OTUs (94% cut-off value), included 44 and 24 OTUs unique to the subsurface and the upper twilight zone, respectively; 92 OTUs were common to both subsurface and twilight zone, and 3 OTUs were found in all samples. Consistent with previous studies, AAPB belonging to the Gammaproteobacteria were the dominant group in the whole water column, followed by the alphaproteobacterial AAPB. Comparing the relative abundance distribution patterns of different clades, an obvious community-structure separation according to deeper or shallower environment could be observed. Sulfitobacter-like, Loktanella-like, Erythrobacter-like, Dinoroseobacter-like and Gamma-HIMB55-like AAPB preferred the high-light subsurface water, while Methylobacterium-like, 'Citromicrobium'-like, Roseovarius-like and Bradyrhizobium-like AAPB, the dim light environment.