The bacteria, collectively known as SAR11, are the most abundant organisms known to inhabit seawater.
"They are everywhere, from the surface down to the bottom, from pole to pole," said study researcher Stephen Giovannoni, a professor of microbiology at Oregon State University, adding that SAR11 microbes are most abundant in the warm waters of ocean gyres, or rotating currents, where they can account for as much as 40 percent of plankton cells.
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