Bacterial Communities Constructed in Artificial Consortia of Bacteria and Chlorella vulgaris

We established artificial consortia of bacteria inoculated from soil and a green alga, Chlorella vulgaris NIES-227. The bacteria and the alga were mixed in a tube or partitioned in a dialysing culture vessel, and the bacterial composition was examined after cultivation. The community of bacteria formed in the consortia included those phylogenetically closely related to the genera Phenylobacterium, Brevundimonas, Phyllobacterium, Afipia, Sphingomonas, Sandaracinobacter, Ramlibacter, Ralstonia, Cellvibrio, and so on. The community also included bacteria belonging to unknown genera within the phyla Bacteroidetes, Verrucomicrobia, and Acidobacteria. It was indicated that Ralstonia sp. and Cellvibrio sp. were attached to the algal cells and Phenylobacterium sp. Ramlibacter sp., Methylophilus sp., and Rhizobiaceae bacterium were not. It was suggested that bacteria belonging to the phylum Bacteroidetes and the class Alphaproteobacteria could be hemi-selectively enriched by the alga.