Dataset Information

Infection of phytoplankton by aerosolized marine viruses.

ABSTRACT: Marine viruses constitute a major ecological and evolutionary driving force in the marine ecosystems. However, their dispersal mechanisms remain underexplored. Here we follow the dynamics of Emiliania huxleyi viruses (EhV) that infect the ubiquitous, bloom-forming phytoplankton E. huxleyi and show that EhV are emitted to the atmosphere as primary marine aerosols. Using a laboratory-based setup, we showed that the dynamic of EhV aerial emission is strongly coupled to the host-virus dynamic in the culture media. In addition, we recovered EhV DNA from atmospheric samples collected over an E. huxleyi bloom in the North Atlantic, providing evidence for aerosolization of marine viruses in their natural environment. Decay rate analysis in the laboratory revealed that aerosolized viruses can remain infective under meteorological conditions prevailing during E. huxleyi blooms in the ocean, allowing potential dispersal and infectivity over hundreds of kilometers. Based on the combined laboratory and in situ findings, we propose that atmospheric transport of EhV is an effective transmission mechanism for spreading viral infection over large areas in the ocean. This transmission mechanism may also have an important ecological impact on the large-scale host-virus "arms race" during bloom succession and consequently the turnover of carbon in the ocean.

SUBMITTER: Sharoni S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4450431 | biostudies-literature | 2015 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Infection of phytoplankton by aerosolized marine viruses.

Sharoni Shlomit S Trainic Miri M Schatz Daniella D Lehahn Yoav Y Flores Michel J MJ Bidle Kay D KD Ben-Dor Shifra S Rudich Yinon Y Koren Ilan I Vardi Assaf A

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20150511 21

Marine viruses constitute a major ecological and evolutionary driving force in the marine ecosystems. However, their dispersal mechanisms remain underexplored. Here we follow the dynamics of Emiliania huxleyi viruses (EhV) that infect the ubiquitous, bloom-forming phytoplankton E. huxleyi and show that EhV are emitted to the atmosphere as primary marine aerosols. Using a laboratory-based setup, we showed that the dynamic of EhV aerial emission is strongly coupled to the host-virus dynamic in the ...[more]

PMID: 25964340

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Project description:The use of electro-generated oxidants in seawater facilitates the discrimination of different plankton groups via monitoring the decay in real time of their chlorophyll-a (chl-a) fluorescence signals following potentiostatic initiation of electrolysis in their vicinity (Yang M.Chem. Sci.2019, 10( (34), ), 7988-7993). In this paper, we explore the sensitivity of phytoplankton to different chemical species produced at various potentials in seawater. At low potentials, the oxidation of ca. millimolar bromide naturally present in seawater to hypobromous acid 'switches-off' the chl-a signal of individual Chlamydomonas concordia cells (green algae) located on the electrode surface within tens of seconds of the potential onset. At higher oxidative potentials, the oxidation of chloride and water produces oxidants (Cl2, OH, H2O2, etc.) that are also lethal to the plankton. To deconvolute the contributions to the response from the chemical identity of the oxidant and the amount of charge delivered to 'titrate' the individual living plankton using the loss of fluorescence as the 'end point', we introduce a ramped galvanostatic method. This approach enabled the controlled injection of charge applied to a bespoke electrochemical cell in which the plankton are immobilized on an electrode surface for rapid and sensitive measurement. It is shown that the number of moles (charge) of oxidants required to react leading to chl-a switch-off is independent of the chemical identity of the electro-generated oxidant(s) among hypobromous acid, chlorine, or water-derived oxidants. Comparative experiments between C. concordia and Emiliania huxleyi (where the latter are encapsulated by extracellular plates of calcium carbonate) show that significantly different amounts of absolute charge (moles of electro-generated oxidants) are required in each case to 'switch-off' the chl-a signal. The method provides the basis for a tool that could distinguish between different plankton cells within ca. 2 min including the setup time.

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Infection of phytoplankton by aerosolized marine viruses.

Publications

Infection of phytoplankton by aerosolized marine viruses.

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