This marine bacterium was collected in the surface waters of the North Sea.. Congregibacter litoralis KT71

gamma proteobacterium KT71. This strain was collected from the surface waters of the North Sea near Helgoland, Germany. It was isolated by serial dilution on low solid carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus medium, and selected based on 16S sequence. This bacterium is affiliated with the gamma-proteobacterial clade NOR5, and is the only isolated representative of this cosmopolitan proteobacterial lineage. It is also among the first heterotrophic bacterial isolates that can be detected in the marine picoplankton in high abundances by direct microscopic counts.