[1] First discovered in a survey of aerobic bacteria in 1972, A. macleodii has since been placed within the phylum Pseudomonadota and is recognised as a prominent component of surface waters between 0 and 50 metres.

[5] Variable regions in the genome of A. macleodii confer functional diversity to closely related strains and facilitate different lifestyles and strategies.

[12] As a copiotroph, A. macleodii is able to use glucose as its sole carbon and energy source and blooms under high nutrient and sodium concentrations where it is able to outcompete other organisms.

[1] Alteromonas macleodii are ubiquitous in the global oceans, typically adhering to small organic particles in the upper 50 metres of the water column.

[14] Initially, two ecotypes of Alteromonas macleodii were described, as niche differentiation had caused two distinct strains of the bacterium to occupy different water depth profiles.

The “deep ecotype” is more suited to microaerophilic environments and it sinks rapidly into the deeper pelagic zones, relying on a different spectrum of carbon sources.

[16] Physiological variation in Alteromonas macleodii leads to specific adaptive strategies in terms of carbon and iron metabolism, cellular communication, and nutrient acquisition.

[6] The physiology of Alteromonas macleodii can influence iron concentrations and recalcitrant dissolved organic matter (DOM) production in the oceans.

[20] Paradoxically, the uptake of D-amino acids by A. macleodii impedes the production of EPS, but encourages the formation of biofilms by promoting other independent aggregation factors.

[26] Increased exposure of bacteria to copper may occur in several ways, such as nutrient leaching, metals from ship hulls, or natural mineral deposits.

While natural ecosystems consist of a variety of heterotrophs contributing to the carbon cycle, it has been found in laboratory settings that A. macleodii is capable of drawing down the complete pool of labile DOC present in coastal waters.

[12] Cell wall polysaccharides secreted by macroalga are degraded by microbes such as Alteromonas, and are a major source of carbon into marine ecosystems.

[29] Alginate is a gel textured polysaccharide that is a common component of macroalgal cell walls, and is a nutrient and carbon source for many organisms.

[1][6][33] Alteromonas macleodii is globally distributed in the surface ocean at 0-50m depth,[1][13] these strains are highly variable functionally despite sharing 97-99% nucleotide identity.

[1][6] Surface strains of A. macleodii also have a higher number of genes associated with utilising different sugar and amino acid substrates as well as transcriptional regulators for plasticity in changing conditions.

[6][35] Content of genomic islands differs greatly between strains, especially those coding for polysaccharides that present on the flagellum and the outer surface of the cell, with possible roles in phage avoidance.

[28][37] Megaplasmids found in particularly metal-tolerant strains contain multiple copies of metal detoxification systems with orthologs in Escherichia and Pseudomonas.

[40] A closely related set of strains previously considered "deep-ecotype" of A. macleodii have since been reclassified under A. mediterranea as they share only 81% overall sequence identity.

As a result, extraction of metalloids by biotechnological applications involving bacterial biosynthesis of nanoparticles from various uncommon and rare metals are increasingly being studied.

Alteromonas macleodii contains a plasmid that houses genes allowing for resistance to multiple metals, and has the ability to reduce potassium tellurite into elemental tellurium.

Membrane vesicles containing κ-carrageenase are produced by A. macleodii, which allows it to degrade carrageenan, a major polysaccharide found in the cell walls of red seaweeds.

[7][46] Studied properties of "deepsane" include high viscosity possibly due to the interaction between acetate and pyruvate, making it an alternative to other viscous polymers currently used in food and cosmetics.