Biodegradation of benzene is most challenging among the plethora of hydrocarbons due to its high chemical stability. While aerobic bacteria employ O 2 ‐dependent oxygenases to overcome the high energy barrier, anaerobic benzene degradation remains enigmatic. Here we achieve an anaerobic enrichment, which is clonal with respect to the benzene‐degrading, sulphate‐reducing, marine bacterium BzS1, from a previously reported enrich...

Dinoflagellates are unicellular eukaryotes with striking cell-biology and genomes and are major drivers of global primary production. Marine Prorocentrum cordatum has a barrel-like chloroplast, reticular mitochondrion, and unique nucleus. A photosystem megacomplex also comprising diverse pigment-binding proteins fosters adaptability to changing light regimes. Climate-forced heat stress evokes reduced cell yields correlating wi...

Antisera were raised against the C-terminal amino acid sequences of the two rhodopsins ADY17806 and AEA49880 of Oxyrrhis marina . The antisera and affinity-purified antibodies thereof were used in western immunoblotting experiments of total cell protein fractions from cultures grown either in darkness or in white, red, green, or blue light. Furthermore, the rhodopsin abundances were profiled in cultures fed with yeast or the p...

Summary Large quantities of organic matter are continuously deposited, and (a)biotic gradients intersect in the soil–rhizosphere, where biodegradation contributes to the global cycles of elements. The betaproteobacterial genus Aromatoleum comprises cosmopolitan, facultative denitrifying degradation specialists. Aromatoleum aromaticum . pCyN1 stands out for anaerobically decomposing plant‐derived monoterpenes in addition to mon...

Summary Plasmid carriage is associated with energetic costs, and thus only those plasmids providing fitness benefits are stably maintained in the host lineage. Marine bacteria of the Roseobacter clade harbor up to 11 extrachromosomal replicons, adding lifestyle‐relevant and possibly habitat success‐promoting functions to their genomic repertoire. Phaeobacter inhibens DSM 17395 is a nutritionally versatile representative, carry...

Summary Combining omics and enzymatic approaches, catabolic routes of nine selected amino acids (tryptophan, phenylalanine, methionine, leucine, isoleucine, valine, histidine, lysine and threonine) were elucidated in substrate‐adapted cells of P haeobacter inhibens DSM 17395 (displaying conspicuous morphotypes). The catabolic network [excluding tricarboxylic acid ( TCA ) cycle] was reconstructed from 71 genes (scattered across...

Summary Among the dominant deltaproteobacterial sulfate‐reducing bacteria ( SRB ), members of the genus D esulfobacula are not only present in (hydrocarbon‐rich) marine sediments, but occur also frequently in the anoxic water bodies encountered in marine upwelling areas. Here, we present the 5.2 Mbp genome of D esulfobacula toluolica Tol2 , which is the first of an aromatic compound‐degrading, marine SRB . The genome has appar...

Summary The pathway for anaerobic degradation of 4‐methylbenzoate was studied in the denitrifying alphaproteobacterium Magnetospirillum sp. strain pMbN1. Adaptation studies with whole cells indicated substrate‐dependent induction of the capacity to degrade 4‐methylbenzoate. Differential protein profiling (2D‐DIGE) of 4‐methylbenzoate‐ in comparison with benzoate‐ or succinate‐adapted cells revealed the specific abundance incre...

Summary Diverse microorganisms have been described to degrade petroleum hydrocarbons anaerobically. Strains able to utilize n ‐alkanes do not grow with aromatic hydrocarbons, whereas strains able to utilize aromatic hydrocarbons do not grow with n ‐alkanes. To investigate this specificity in more detail, three anaerobic n ‐alkane degraders (two denitrifying, one sulfate‐reducing) and eight anaerobic alkylbenzene degraders (fiv...

Summary Sulfate‐reducing bacteria (SRB) belonging to the metabolically versatile Desulfobacteriaceae are abundant in marine sediments and contribute to the global carbon cycle by complete oxidation of organic compounds. Desulfobacterium autotrophicum HRM2 is the first member of this ecophysiologically important group with a now available genome sequence. With 5.6 megabasepairs (Mbp) the genome of Db. autotrophicum HRM2 is abou...

Summary The anaerobic biodegradation of naphthalene, an aromatic hydrocarbon in tar and petroleum, has been repeatedly observed in environments but scarcely in pure cultures. To further explore the relationships and physiology of anaerobic naphthalene‐degrading microorganisms, sulfate‐reducing bacteria (SRB) were enriched from a Mediterranean sediment with added naphthalene. Two strains (NaphS3, NaphS6) with oval cells were is...

Summary Strain HxN1, a member of the Betaproteobacteria , can grow anaerobically by denitrification with n ‐alkanes. n ‐Alkanes are apparently activated by subterminal carbon addition to fumarate yielding (1‐methylalkyl)succinates, the postulated enzyme being (1‐methylalkyl)succinate synthase (Mas). Genes encoding this enzyme ( mas ) were searched for via proteins that were specifically formed in n ‐hexane‐grown cells (in comp...

Summary Growth phase dependent changes of protein composition in the marine bacterium Rhodopirellula baltica were quantitatively monitored by applying the two‐dimensional difference gel electrophoresis (2D DIGE) technology. The number of regulated proteins (fold changes in protein abundance > |2|) increased from early (10) to late stationary growth phase (179), with fold changes reaching maximal values of 40. About 110 of thes...

Summary The diversity and distribution of Deltaproteobacteria in an intertidal mud flat of the German Wadden Sea was characterized by molecular biological techniques and cultivation. A 16S rRNA gene library generated with general primers (303 clones) suggested that sulfate‐reducing bacteria (SRB) related to Desulfobulbaceae and Desulfosarcina were abundant. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) with probes targeting these...