The phototrophic capacity of aerobic anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria endows them with a selective advantage over other heterotrophic bacteria in the oligotrophic ocean. Here, we reported the phototrophic features and proteome of an aerobic phototrophic bacterium Roseobacter denitrificans under starvation stress. The fluorescence induction and relaxation measurements suggested that the photosynthetic capacity in R. denitrificans was preserved but was lower than in the photoautotrophic bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides. The existence of light-harvesting complexes (LH1 and LH2) and the reaction center (RC) in the native membrane were demonstrated through atomic force microscopy image analysis as direct evidence of their phototrophy. The homology-based LH1-RC complex structure was proposed in which RC was the Rb. sphaeroides homolog structure surrounded by the LH1. Moreover, the protein expression profiles of cells in the stationary phase under heterotrophic and mixotrophic conditions show that light enhanced or activated some proteins such as carbon monoxide dehydrogenase and NifU to cope with the low levels of amino acids and carbon sources under starvation conditions.