Physiology and molecular phylogeny of coexisting Prochlorococcus ecotypes

The cyanobacterium Prochlorococcus(1,2) is the dominant oxygenic phototroph in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world's (1,3,4). It can grow at a range of depths over which light oceans intensities can vary by up to 4 orders of magnitude. This broad depth distribution has been hypothesized to stem from the coexistence of genetically different populations adapted for growth at high-and low-light intensities(4-6). Here we report direct evidence supporting this hypothesis, which has been generated by isolating and analysing distinct co-occurring populations of Prochlorococcus at two locations in the North Atlantic. Go-isolates from the same water sample have very different light-dependent physiologies, one growing maximally at light intensities at which the other is completely photoinhibited. Despite this ecotypic differentiation, the co-isolates have 97% similarity in their 16S ribosomal RNA sequences, demonstrating that molecular microdiversity, commonly observed in microbial systems(7-12), can be due to the coexistence of closely related, physiologically distinct populations. The coexistence and distribution of multiple ecotypes permits the survival of the population as a whole over a broader range of environmental conditions than would be possible for a homogeneous population.