The “Neglected Viruses” of Taihu: Abundant Transcripts for Viruses Infecting Eukaryotes and Their Potential Role in Phytoplankton Succession

Drivers of algal bloom dynamics remain poorly understood, but viruses have been implicated as important players. Research addressing bloom dynamics has generally been restricted to the virus-infection of the numerically dominant (i.e. bloom forming) taxa. Yet this approach neglects a broad diversity...

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Autores principales: Pound, Helena L., Gann, Eric R., Tang, Xiangming, Krausfeldt, Lauren E., Huff, Matthew, Staton, Margaret E., Talmy, David, Wilhelm, Steven W.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7067694/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32210938
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.00338
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author Pound, Helena L.
Gann, Eric R.
Tang, Xiangming
Krausfeldt, Lauren E.
Huff, Matthew
Staton, Margaret E.
Talmy, David
Wilhelm, Steven W.
author_facet Pound, Helena L.
Gann, Eric R.
Tang, Xiangming
Krausfeldt, Lauren E.
Huff, Matthew
Staton, Margaret E.
Talmy, David
Wilhelm, Steven W.
author_sort Pound, Helena L.
collection PubMed
description Drivers of algal bloom dynamics remain poorly understood, but viruses have been implicated as important players. Research addressing bloom dynamics has generally been restricted to the virus-infection of the numerically dominant (i.e. bloom forming) taxa. Yet this approach neglects a broad diversity of viral groups, limiting our knowledge of viral interactions and constraints within these systems. We examined hallmark virus marker genes in metatranscriptomic libraries from a seasonal and spatial survey of a Microcystis aeruginosa bloom in Lake Tai (Taihu) China to identify active infections by nucleocytoplasmic large DNA viruses (NCLDVs), RNA viruses, ssDNA viruses, bacteriophage, and virophage. Phylogenetic analyses revealed a diverse virus population with seasonal and spatial variability. We observed disproportionately high expression of markers associated with NCLDVs and ssRNA viruses (consistent with viruses that infect photosynthetic protists) relative to bacteriophage infecting heterotrophic bacteria or cyanobacteria during the height of the Microcystis bloom event. Under a modified kill-the-winner scheme, we hypothesize viruses infecting protists help suppress the photosynthetic eukaryotic community and allow for the proliferation of cyanobacteria such as Microcystis. Our observations provide a foundation for a little considered factor promoting algal blooms.
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spelling pubmed-70676942020-03-24 The “Neglected Viruses” of Taihu: Abundant Transcripts for Viruses Infecting Eukaryotes and Their Potential Role in Phytoplankton Succession Pound, Helena L. Gann, Eric R. Tang, Xiangming Krausfeldt, Lauren E. Huff, Matthew Staton, Margaret E. Talmy, David Wilhelm, Steven W. Front Microbiol Microbiology Drivers of algal bloom dynamics remain poorly understood, but viruses have been implicated as important players. Research addressing bloom dynamics has generally been restricted to the virus-infection of the numerically dominant (i.e. bloom forming) taxa. Yet this approach neglects a broad diversity of viral groups, limiting our knowledge of viral interactions and constraints within these systems. We examined hallmark virus marker genes in metatranscriptomic libraries from a seasonal and spatial survey of a Microcystis aeruginosa bloom in Lake Tai (Taihu) China to identify active infections by nucleocytoplasmic large DNA viruses (NCLDVs), RNA viruses, ssDNA viruses, bacteriophage, and virophage. Phylogenetic analyses revealed a diverse virus population with seasonal and spatial variability. We observed disproportionately high expression of markers associated with NCLDVs and ssRNA viruses (consistent with viruses that infect photosynthetic protists) relative to bacteriophage infecting heterotrophic bacteria or cyanobacteria during the height of the Microcystis bloom event. Under a modified kill-the-winner scheme, we hypothesize viruses infecting protists help suppress the photosynthetic eukaryotic community and allow for the proliferation of cyanobacteria such as Microcystis. Our observations provide a foundation for a little considered factor promoting algal blooms. Frontiers Media S.A. 2020-03-06 /pmc/articles/PMC7067694/ /pubmed/32210938 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.00338 Text en Copyright © 2020 Pound, Gann, Tang, Krausfeldt, Huff, Staton, Talmy and Wilhelm. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Microbiology
Pound, Helena L.
Gann, Eric R.
Tang, Xiangming
Krausfeldt, Lauren E.
Huff, Matthew
Staton, Margaret E.
Talmy, David
Wilhelm, Steven W.
The “Neglected Viruses” of Taihu: Abundant Transcripts for Viruses Infecting Eukaryotes and Their Potential Role in Phytoplankton Succession
title The “Neglected Viruses” of Taihu: Abundant Transcripts for Viruses Infecting Eukaryotes and Their Potential Role in Phytoplankton Succession
title_full The “Neglected Viruses” of Taihu: Abundant Transcripts for Viruses Infecting Eukaryotes and Their Potential Role in Phytoplankton Succession
title_fullStr The “Neglected Viruses” of Taihu: Abundant Transcripts for Viruses Infecting Eukaryotes and Their Potential Role in Phytoplankton Succession
title_full_unstemmed The “Neglected Viruses” of Taihu: Abundant Transcripts for Viruses Infecting Eukaryotes and Their Potential Role in Phytoplankton Succession
title_short The “Neglected Viruses” of Taihu: Abundant Transcripts for Viruses Infecting Eukaryotes and Their Potential Role in Phytoplankton Succession
title_sort “neglected viruses” of taihu: abundant transcripts for viruses infecting eukaryotes and their potential role in phytoplankton succession
topic Microbiology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7067694/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32210938
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.00338
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