Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 12 May 2006:
Vol. 312. no. 5775, pp. 918 - 921
DOI: 10.1126/science.1122692
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Oceanographic Basis of the Global Surface Distribution of Prochlorococcus Ecotypes

Heather A. Bouman,1* Osvaldo Ulloa,1 David J. Scanlan,3 Katrin Zwirglmaier,3 William K. W. Li,4 Trevor Platt,4 Venetia Stuart,5 Ray Barlow,6 Ole Leth,2 Lesley Clementson,7 Vivian Lutz,8 Masao Fukasawa,9 Shuichi Watanabe,9 Shubha Sathyendranath5

By using data collected during a continuous circumnavigation of the Southern Hemisphere, we observed clear patterns in the population-genetic structure of Prochlorococcus, the most abundant photosynthetic organism on Earth, between and within the three Southern Subtropical Gyres. The same mechanisms that were previously invoked to account for the vertical distribution of ecotypes at local scales accounted for the global (horizontal) patterns we observed. Basin-scale and seasonal variations in the structure and strength of vertical stratification provide a basis for understanding large-scale horizontal distribution in genetic and physiological traits of Prochlorococcus, and perhaps of marine microbial communities in general.

1 Laboratorio de Procesos Oceanográficos y Clima, Departamento de Oceanografía, and Centro de Investigación Oceanográfica en el Pacífico Sur-Oriental, Universidad de Concepción, Casilla 160-C, Concepción, Chile.
2 Departamento de Geofísica, Universidad de Concepción, Casilla 160-C, Concepción, Chile.
3 Department of Biological Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK.
4 Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, B2Y 4A2, Canada.
5 Department of Oceanography, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 4J1, Canada.
6 Marine and Coastal Management, Private Bag X2, Rogge Bay 8012, Cape Town, South Africa.
7 Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Marine Research, Post Office Box 1538, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, 7001.
8 Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo Pesquero, Paseo Victoria Ocampo 1, 7600 Mar del Plata, Argentina.
9 Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, 2-15, Natsushima, Yokosuka, 237-0061, Japan.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: heather{at}profc.udec.cl

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Photosynthetic picoplankton dynamics in Lake Tahoe: temporal and spatial niche partitioning among prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells.
M. Winder (2009)
J. Plankton Res. 31, 1307-1320
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
From the Cover: Widespread metabolic potential for nitrite and nitrate assimilation among Prochlorococcus ecotypes.
A. C. Martiny, S. Kathuria, and P. M. Berube (2009)
PNAS 106, 10787-10792
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Ecological Genomics of Marine Picocyanobacteria.
D. J. Scanlan, M. Ostrowski, S. Mazard, A. Dufresne, L. Garczarek, W. R. Hess, A. F. Post, M. Hagemann, I. Paulsen, and F. Partensky (2009)
Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 73, 249-299
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Emergent Biogeography of Microbial Communities in a Model Ocean.
M. J. Follows, S. Dutkiewicz, S. Grant, and S. W. Chisholm (2007)
Science 315, 1843-1846
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Patterns and mechanisms of genetic and phenotypic differentiation in marine microbes.
M. F Polz, D. E Hunt, S. P Preheim, and D. M Weinreich (2006)
Phil Trans R Soc B 361, 2009-2021
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)