Strong Seasonality and Interannual Recurrence in Marine Myovirus Communities

• Published in: Applied and Environmental Microbiology
• Main Authors: Pagarete, A., Chow, C.-E. T., Johannessen, T., Fuhrman, J. A., Thingstad, T. F., Sandaa, R. A.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: American Society for Microbiology 2013
• Subjects: North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/aem.01075-13; https://journals.asm.org/doi/pdf/10.1128/AEM.01075-13

ABSTRACT The temporal community dynamics and persistence of different viral types in the marine environment are still mostly obscure. Polymorphism of the major capsid protein gene, g23 , was used to investigate the community composition dynamics of T4-like myoviruses in a North Atlantic fjord for a period of 2 years. A total of 160 unique operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were identified by terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (TRFLP) of the gene g23 . Three major community profiles were identified (winter-spring, summer, and autumn), which resulted in a clear seasonal succession pattern. These seasonal transitions were recurrent over the 2 years and significantly correlated with progression of seawater temperature, Synechococcus abundance, and turbidity. The appearance of the autumn viral communities was concomitant with the occurrence of prominent Synechococcus blooms. As a whole, we found a highly dynamic T4-like viral community with strong seasonality and recurrence patterns. These communities were unexpectedly dominated by a group of persistently abundant viruses.