Nature Communications<\/a>, found that the SAR11 bacteria are not a single, uniform population as often thought. Instead, they are organized into stable, ecologically distinct groups, essentially specialized \u201cteams\u201d adapted to specific environments, such as the coast versus the open ocean. This means that one of the ocean\u2019s most important engines is far more complex than previously known.<\/p>\n![\"two](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/manoa-soest-phytoplankton-bloom-1-214x300.jpg\")
(Photo credit: Kelle Freel)<\/p>\n
Using K\u0101ne\u02bbohe Bay as a natural laboratory, the team linked newly cultivated strains to ocean samples worldwide, showing that these distinct ecological groups differ significantly in habitat preference, gene content, and evolutionary history.<\/p>\n
\u201cK\u0101ne\u02bbohe Bay gave us a rare window into how microbial populations can adapt across very small spatial scales,\u201d said Kelle Freel, lead author at HIMB. \u201cBy pairing cultivation with a long-term time series, we could directly connect genomes to real ecological differences in the ocean.\u201d<\/p>\n
SAR11 bacteria are tiny, streamlined cells that collectively represent one of the most abundant life forms in the ocean and play a central role in marine carbon and nutrient cycling. Despite their global importance, scientists have struggled to understand how SAR11 populations differ from one another, in part because these microbes are extremely diverse and very difficult to grow in the laboratory.<\/p>\n
K\u0101ne\u02bbohe Bay provided a uniquely powerful model system to overcome these challenges. Years of sustained sampling through the K\u0101ne\u02bbohe Bay Time-series (KByT) allowed researchers to pair environmental measurements with newly grown SAR11 strains, creating an opportunity to connect microbial DNA with where these organisms live and how they survive.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis work shows that SAR11 diversity is not random,\u201d said Michael Rapp\u00e9, principal investigator at HIMB. \u201cBy using K\u0101ne\u02bbohe Bay as a model system, we could integrate genomics with ecology in a way that reveals clear evolutionary structure\u2014structure that holds across the global ocean and provides a common framework for studying one of the planet\u2019s most important microbial groups.\u201d<\/p>\n
For more information, see HIMB\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Reading time: 2 minutesResearchers sample surface seawater as a part of the K\u0101ne\u02bbohe Time Series. (Photo credit: Kelle…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":236491,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[125360,125357,18,52906,125344,125345,19,17,125343,125353,125354,125346,8219,7019,125351,125356,125358,125347,6105,125350,125342,44179,125352,125359,125349,8220,125341,133,125348,8198,125340,125355],"class_list":{"0":"post-236490","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-coastal-reef-waters","9":"tag-ecological-units","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-genetic-differences","12":"tag-hawaii-institute-of-marine-biology","13":"tag-himb","14":"tag-ie","15":"tag-ireland","16":"tag-kaneohe-bay","17":"tag-kaneohe-bay-time-series","18":"tag-kbyt","19":"tag-kelle-freel","20":"tag-manoa-research","21":"tag-marine-biology","22":"tag-marine-carbon-cycling","23":"tag-marine-metagenomes","24":"tag-metabolic-genes","25":"tag-michael-rappe","26":"tag-microbial-ecology","27":"tag-microbial-populations","28":"tag-most-abundant-bacteria","29":"tag-nature-communications","30":"tag-nutrient-cycling","31":"tag-open-ocean","32":"tag-pelagibacterales","33":"tag-publication","34":"tag-sar11-bacteria","35":"tag-science","36":"tag-the-isme-journal","37":"tag-uh-manoa","38":"tag-uh-study","39":"tag-whole-genomes"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"two](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/manoa-soest-phytoplankton-bloom-2-1.jpg\")
Researchers sample surface seawater as a part of the K\u0101ne\u02bbohe Time Series. (Photo credit: Kelle Freel)<\/p>\n