Isolation and Characterization of a Single-Stranded DNA Virus Infecting the Marine Diatom Chaetoceros sp. Strain SS628-11 Isolated from Western JAPAN

Diatoms are significant organisms for primary production in the earth's aquatic environment. Hence, their dynamics are an important focus area in current studies. Viruses are a great concern as potential factors of diatom mortality, along with other physical, chemical, and biological factors. We isolated and characterized a new diatom virus (Csp07DNAV) that lyses the marine planktonic diatom Chaetoceros sp. strain SS628-11. This paper examines the physiological, morphological, and genomic characteristics of Csp07DNAV. The virus was isolated from a surface water sample that was collected at Hiroshima Bay, Japan. It was icosahedral, had a diameter of 34 nm, and accumulated in the nuclei of host cells. Rod-shaped virus particles also coexisted in the host nuclei. The latent period and burst size were estimated to be <12 h and 29 infectious units per host cell, respectively. Csp07DNAV had a closed circular single-stranded DNA genome (5,552 nucleotides), which included a double-stranded region and 3 open reading frames. The monophyly of Csp07DNAV and other Bacilladnavirus group single-stranded DNA viruses was supported by phylogenetic analysis that was based on the amino acid sequence of each virus protein. On the basis of these results, we considered Csp07DNAV to be a new member of the genus Bacilladnavirus.