Functional characteristics of culturable bacterioplankton from marine and estuarine environments Autors/ores Lone Frette Department of Environmental Chemistry and Microbiology, National Environmental Research Institute, Roskilde, Denmark; and Department of Ecology, The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Frederiksberg, Denmark Kaare Johnsen Department of Geochemistry, Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, København, Denmark Niels O.G. Jørgensen Department of Ecology, The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Frederiksberg, Denmark Ole Nybroe Department of Ecology, The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Frederiksberg, Denmark Niels Kroer Department of Environmental Chemistry and Microbiology, National Environmental Research Institute, Roskilde, Denmark Paraules clau: culturable bacterioplankton, physiological characterization, taxonomic and functional diversity, metabolic capacity Resum Information on the structure of bacterioplankton communities is continuously increasing, while knowledge of their metabolic capabilities remains limited. In this study, the metabolic capacity of bacterioplankton was investigated, as such information is necessary to fully understand carbon cycling and other biogeochemical processes. The diversity of dominant culturable chemoorganotrophic bacteria from one estuarine and three marine environments was analyzed by random isolation of colony-forming units on solid media, taxonomical identification by partial 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, and functional characterization of the isolates. A total of 76 16S rRNA gene sequences, representing 19 different genotypes, were obtained from the four sampling localities, including Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Pseudoalteromonas, Vibrio, and Erythrobacter as the most frequently isolated genera. The range of metabolic functions possessed by the cultured bacterial assemblages differed significantly between sites. Similarly, the percentage at each sampling station of bacteria capable of performing a specific function was significantly different for 18 of the 25 investigated metabolic functions. At two localities, the bacterial assemblages were dominated by a single genus (Pseudoalteromonas or Erythrobacter) and appeared to be functionally specialized. More than 95% of the isolates were capable of utilizing dissolved free amino acids and protein as their sole nitrogen sources, and all isolates of the specialized assemblages expressed β-glucosidase. Furthermore, only some of the isolates were able to utilize NH4+, while up to two thirds of the isolates of the two marine sites were able to grow on NO3–. [Int Microbiol 2004; 7(3):219–227] Descàrregues PDF (English) Publicat 2010-02-28 Número Vol. 7 Núm. 3 (2004) Secció Articles Llicència Submission of a manuscript to International Microbiology implies: that the work described has not been published before, including publication in the World Wide Web (except in the form of an Abstract or as part of a published lecture, review, or thesis); that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere; that all the coauthors have agreed to its publication. The corresponding author signs for and accepts responsability for releasing this material and will act on behalf of any and all coauthors regarding the editorial review and publication process.If an article is accepted for publication in International Microbiology, the authors (or other copyright holder) must transfer to the journal the right–not exclusive–to reproduce and distribute the article including reprints, translations, photographic reproductions, microform, electronic form (offline, online) or any other reproductions of similar nature. Nevertheless, all article in International Microbiology will be available on the Internet to any reader at no cost. The journal allows users to freely download, copy, print, distribute, search, and link to the full text of any article, provided the authorship and source of the published article is cited. The copyright owner's consent does not include copying for new works, or resale. In these cases, the specific written permission of International Microbiology must first be obtained.Authors are requested to create a link to the published article on the journal's website. The link must be accompanied by the following text: "The original publication is available on LINK at <http://www.im.microbios.org>. Please use the appropiate URL for the article in LINK. Articles disseminated via LINK are indexed, abstracted, and referenced by many abstracting and information services, bibliographic networks, subscription agencies, library networks, and consortia.