Cyanophages infecting the oceanic cyanobacterium Prochlorococcus

Sullivan, Matthew B.; Waterbury, John; Chisholm, Sallie W.

doi:10.1038/nature01929

Cited by 491 publications

(528 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Notably, two of these non-tailed phages were isolated using the cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. WH7803 (McDaniel et al, 2006;Kuznetsov et al, 2012) from which a decade of viral isolations had previously resulted in only tailed phages (Waterbury and Valois, 1993;Wilson et al, 1993;Fuller et al, 1998;Lu et al, 2001;Chen and Lu, 2002;Marston and Sallee, 2003;Sullivan et al, 2003). Collectively, this suggests that the relative dearth of non-tailed phage isolates (Ackermann, 2007) may result from ascertainment bias derived from a combination of limited host diversity and non-tailed phages being less easily propagated or recognized than their tailed counterparts.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Global morphological analysis of marine viruses shows minimal regional variation and dominance of non-tailed viruses

2013

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Viruses influence oceanic ecosystems by causing mortality of microorganisms, altering nutrient and organic matter flux via lysis and auxiliary metabolic gene expression and changing the trajectory of microbial evolution through horizontal gene transfer. Limited host range and differing genetic potential of individual virus types mean that investigations into the types of viruses that exist in the ocean and their spatial distribution throughout the world’s oceans are critical to understanding the global impacts of marine viruses. Here we evaluate viral morphological characteristics (morphotype, capsid diameter and tail length) using a quantitative transmission electron microscopy (qTEM) method across six of the world’s oceans and seas sampled through the Tara Oceans Expedition. Extensive experimental validation of the qTEM method shows that neither sample preservation nor preparation significantly alters natural viral morphological characteristics. The global sampling analysis demonstrated that morphological characteristics did not vary consistently with depth (surface versus deep chlorophyll maximum waters) or oceanic region. Instead, temperature, salinity and oxygen concentration, but not chlorophyll a concentration, were more explanatory in evaluating differences in viral assemblage morphological characteristics. Surprisingly, given that the majority of cultivated bacterial viruses are tailed, non-tailed viruses appear to numerically dominate the upper oceans as they comprised 51–92% of the viral particles observed. Together, these results document global marine viral morphological characteristics, show that their minimal variability is more explained by environmental conditions than geography and suggest that non-tailed viruses might represent the most ecologically important targets for future research.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Global morphological analysis of marine viruses shows minimal regional variation and dominance of non-tailed viruses

2013

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“…In contrast, few studies have documented the ease by which marine bacteria evolve virus resistance or its extent in marine systems. While some reports infer that resistance to marine viruses is rare (Fuhrman, 1999), others suggest that it may be widespread (Waterbury and Valois, 1993;Middelboe et al, 2001;Jiang et al, 2003;Sullivan et al, 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is there a cost of virus resistance in marine cyanobacteria?

et al. 2007

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Owing to their abundance and diversity, it is generally perceived that viruses are important for structuring microbial communities and regulating biogeochemical cycles. The ecological impact of viruses on microbial food webs, however, may be influenced by evolutionary processes, including the ability of bacteria to evolve resistance to viruses and the theoretical prediction that this resistance should be accompanied by a fitness cost. We conducted experiments using phylogenetically distinct strains of marine Synechococcus (Cyanobacteria) to test for a cost of resistance (COR) to viral isolates collected from Mount Hope Bay, Rhode Island. In addition, we examined whether fitness costs (1) increased proportionally with ‘total resistance’, the number of viruses for which a strain had evolved resistance, or (2) were determined more by ‘compositional resistance’, the identity of the viruses to which it evolved resistance. A COR was only found in half of our experiments, which may be attributed to compensatory mutations or the inability to detect a small COR. When detected, the COR resulted in a ∼20% reduction in relative fitness compared to ancestral strains. The COR was unaffected by total resistance, suggesting a pleiotropic fitness response. Under competitive conditions, however, the COR was dependent on compositional resistance, suggesting that fitness costs were associated with the identity of a few particular viruses. Our study provides the first evidence for a COR in marine bacteria, and suggests that Synechococcus production may be influenced by the composition of co-occurring viruses.

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“…Lysogeny is considered to be an adaptation to low host abundance and/or activity because it has been reported to increase with depth, whereas the lytic cycle dominates at high host abundance and/or activity (Weinbauer et al, 2003). Viruses are assumed to be host-specific (Ackermann and DuBow, 1987), however, some marine phages have been shown to exhibit a broad host range (Sullivan et al, 2003;Sano et al, 2004;Holmfeldt et al, 2007). The viral infection rate, among other parameters, depends on the host abundance (Murray and Jackson, 1992).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Links between viral and prokaryotic communities throughout the water column in the (sub)tropical Atlantic Ocean

et al. 2010

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Viral and prokaryotic abundance, production and diversity were determined throughout the water column of the subtropical Atlantic Ocean to assess potential variations in the relation between viruses and prokaryotes. Prokaryotic abundance and heterotrophic activity decreased by one and three orders of magnitude, respectively, from the epi-to the abyssopelagic layer. Although the lytic viral production (VP) decreased with depth, lysogenic VP was variable throughout the water column and did not show any trend with depth. The bacterial, archaeal and viral community composition were depth-stratified as determined by the automated ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis, terminalrestriction fragment length polymorphism and randomly amplified polymorphic DNA-PCR, respectively. Generally, the number of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) did not reveal consistent trends throughout the water column. Viral and prokaryotic abundance were strongly related to heterotrophic prokaryotic production, suggesting similar linkage strength between the viral and prokaryotic communities from the lower epi-to the abyssopelagic layer in the Atlantic Ocean. Strikingly, the prokaryotic and viral parameters exhibited a similar variability throughout the water column down to the abyssopelagic layers, suggesting that the dark ocean is as dynamic a system as is the lower epipelagic layer. It also indicates that viruses are apparently having a similar role for prokaryotic mortality in the dark oceanic realm as in surface waters. The more than twofold increase in bacterial OTUs from 2750 m depth to 45000 m depth and the concurrent decrease in viral OTUs, however, suggests that viruses might exhibit a wider host range in deep waters than in surface waters.

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Cyanophages infecting the oceanic cyanobacterium Prochlorococcus

Cited by 491 publications

References 26 publications

Global morphological analysis of marine viruses shows minimal regional variation and dominance of non-tailed viruses

Global morphological analysis of marine viruses shows minimal regional variation and dominance of non-tailed viruses

Is there a cost of virus resistance in marine cyanobacteria?

Links between viral and prokaryotic communities throughout the water column in the (sub)tropical Atlantic Ocean

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