Phylogeny of culturable estuarine bacteria catabolizing riverine organic matter in the northern Baltic Sea

The objective of our study was to isolate and determine the phylogenetic affiliation of culturable estuarine bacteria capable of catabolizing riverine dissolved organic matter (RDOM) under laboratory conditions. Additions of RDOM consistently promoted the growth of estuarine bacteria in carbon-limited dilution cultures, with seasonal variation in growth rates and yields. At least 42 different taxa were culturable on solid agar media and, according to quantitative DNA-DNA hybridizations, constituted 32 to 89% of the total bacterial number in the enriched treatments. Five species in the Cytophaga-Flexibacter-Bacteroides group and one in the gamma-proteobacteria phylogenetic group (Marinomonas sp.) were numerically dominant during the stationary phase of the RDOM-enriched dilution cultures but not in the control cultures. Four of the isolates in Cytophaga-Flexibacter-Bacteroides group were putatively affiliated with the genus Flavobacterium. All dominating isolates were determined to be new species based on comparison to the current databases. The same group of species dominated independently of the season investigated, suggesting a low diversity of bacteria catabolizing RDOM in the estuary. It also suggested a broad tolerance of the dominating species to seasonal variation in hydrography, chemistry, and competition with other species. Taken together, our results suggest that a limited group of bacteria, mainly in the Flavobacterium genus, played an important role in introducing new energy and carbon to the marine system in the northern Baltic Sea.