About the Authors

Jing Sun

Affiliation Department of Microbiology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, United States of America

Laura Steindler

Affiliation Department of Microbiology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, United States of America

J. Cameron Thrash

Affiliation Department of Microbiology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, United States of America

Kimberly H. Halsey

Affiliation Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, United States of America

Daniel P. Smith

Affiliation Department of Microbiology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, United States of America

Amy E. Carter

Affiliation Department of Microbiology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, United States of America

Zachary C. Landry

Affiliation Department of Microbiology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, United States of America

Stephen J. Giovannoni

steve.giovannoni@oregonstate.edu

Affiliation Department of Microbiology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, United States of America

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: JS SJG. Performed the experiments: JS LS. Analyzed the data: JS JCT DPS LS KHH SJG. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: SJG. Wrote the paper: JS JCT LS KHH DPS SJG. Performed the field experiments in Bermuda: KHH AEC SJG ZCL.