Abstract

Fulvimarina pelagi is a Mn(II)-oxidizing marine heterotrophic bacterium in the order Rhizobiales. Here we announce the draft genome sequence of F. pelagi HTCC2506T, which was isolated from the Sargasso Sea by using dilution-to-extinction culturing. The genome sequence contained a xanthorhodopsin gene as well as a photosynthetic gene cluster, which suggests the coexistence of two different phototrophic mechanisms in a single microorganism. Besides being mediated by the well-known process of aero-bic oxygenic photosynthesis, utilization of light energy in the marine carbon and nutrient cycling processes is usually medi-ated by aerobic anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria (AAPB) or prokaryotes containing microbial rhodopsin family proteins (18). AAPB comprise about 10 % of total microbial cells in the euphotic zone of diverse marine regimes, with alpha-, beta-, and gammaproteobacteria as major constituents (8, 10). Rho-dopsin family proteins, including bacteriorhodopsin, proteo-rhodopsin, and xanthorhodopsin (XR), have been shown to