Rhodobacteraceae on the marine brown alga Fucus spiralis are abundant and show physiological adaptation to an epiphytic lifestyle.

Macroalgae harbour specific microbial communities on their surface that have functions related to host health and defence. In this study, the bacterial biofilm of the marine brown alga Fucus spiralis was investigated using 16S rRNA gene amplicon-based analysis and isolation of bacteria. Rhodobacteraceae (Alphaproteobacteria) were the predominant family constituting 23% of the epibacterial community. At the genus level, Sulfitobacter, Loktanella, Octadecabacter and a previously undescribed cluster were most abundant, and together they comprised 89% of the Rhodobacteraceae. Supported by a specific PCR approach, 23 different Rhodobacteraceae-affiliated strains were isolated from the surface of F. spiralis, which belonged to 12 established and three new genera. For seven strains, closely related sequences were detected in the 16S rRNA gene dataset. Growth experiments with substrates known to be produced by Fucus spp. showed that all of them were consumed by at least three strains, and vitamin B12 was produced by 70% of the isolates. Since growth of F. spiralis depends on B12 supplementation, bacteria may provide the alga with this vitamin. Most strains produced siderophores, which can enhance algal growth under iron-deficient conditions. Inhibiting properties against other bacteria were only observed when F. spiralis material was present in the medium. Thus, the physiological properties of the isolates indicated adaption to an epiphytic lifestyle.

Bacterial community dynamics during polysaccharide degradation at contrasting sites in the Southern and Atlantic Oceans.

The bacterial degradation of polysaccharides is central to marine carbon cycling, but little is known about the bacterial taxa that degrade specific marine polysaccharides. Here, bacterial growth and community dynamics were studied during the degradation of the polysaccharides chitin, alginate and agarose in microcosm experiments at four contrasting locations in the Southern and Atlantic Oceans. At the Southern polar front, chitin-supplemented microcosms were characterized by higher fractions of actively growing cells and a community shift from Alphaproteobacteria to Gammaproteobacteria and Bacteroidetes. At the Antarctic ice shelf, chitin degradation was associated with growth of Bacteroidetes, with 24% higher cell numbers compared with the control. At the Patagonian continental shelf, alginate and agarose degradation covaried with growth of different Alteromonadaceae populations, each with specific temporal growth patterns. At the Mauritanian upwelling, only the alginate hydrolysis product guluronate was consumed, coincident with increasing abundances of Alteromonadaceae and possibly cross-feeding SAR11. 16S rRNA gene amplicon libraries indicated that growth of the Bacteroidetes-affiliated genus Reichenbachiella was stimulated by chitin at all cold and temperate water stations, suggesting comparable ecological roles over wide geographical scales. Overall, the predominance of location-specific patterns showed that bacterial communities from contrasting oceanic biomes have members with different potentials to hydrolyse polysaccharides.