Ruegeria pomeroyi

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Ruegeria pomeroyi is a Gram-negative, rod-shaped, aerobic marine bacterium. It is a versatile “generalist” microbe found in coastal oceans, capable of using a wide range of carbon and energy sources. The species was discovered off the East Coast of the United States in Mary Ann Moran’s lab at the University of Georgia and was named after the marine ecologist Lawrence Pomeroy, who highlighted the important role of bacteria in ocean food webs. The type strain is called DSS-3.

Genome and classification
- The genome of the type strain DSS-3 was sequenced in 2004. It is about 4.11 million base pairs long and includes a large megaplasmid of about 0.49 million base pairs.
- This relatively large genome helps explain the bacterium’s metabolic versatility.

DMSP metabolism and ecological importance
- Ruegeria pomeroyi can degrade dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP), a sulfur-containing compound produced by marine algae.
- It uses demethylation to process DMSP. The first gene shown to initiate this pathway is dmdA, which encodes the DmdA enzyme that removes a methyl group from DMSP. This discovery helped reveal that many marine bacteria can demethylate DMSP.
- In addition to demethylation, R. pomeroyi can also cleave DMSP in half through a separate pathway.
- Through these capabilities, R. pomeroyi contributes to the ocean’s sulfur cycle and exemplifies how marine bacteria support microbial food webs.