Distribution of aerobic anoxygenic phototrophs in temperate freshwater systems

The presence of aerobic anoxygenic phototrophs (AAPs) was recently reported from various marine environments; however, there is little information regarding their distribution in fresh waters. We surveyed a number of freshwater systems in central Europe, by infra-red fluorometry, infra-red epifluorescence microscopy, fluorescence emission spectroscopy and pigment analyses. AAPs were found to be abundant in several oligotrophic and mesotrophic lakes (50-400 ng of bacteriochlorophyll a l⁻¹, 10-80% of bacterial biomass), while in more eutrophized water bodies they represented a negligible part of the total microbial community (< 1%). The observed freshwater AAPs were morphologically diverse and different from previously observed marine species. Under temperate European climatic conditions, AAP populations undergo strong seasonal changes in terms of both abundance and species composition, with the maximum biomass in summer and the minimum in winter. In the mountain lakes Čertovo and Plešné, AAPs contributed more than one half of total bacterial biomass during their summer maximum. These results show that photoheterotrophic bacteria represent an important part of the microbial community in many freshwater systems.