Dataset Information

Infection by a Giant Virus (AaV) Induces Widespread Physiological Reprogramming in Aureococcus anophagefferens CCMP1984 - A Harmful Bloom Algae.

ABSTRACT: While viruses with distinct phylogenetic origins and different nucleic acid types can infect and lyse eukaryotic phytoplankton, "giant" dsDNA viruses have been found to be associated with important ecological processes, including the collapse of algal blooms. However, the molecular aspects of giant virus-host interactions remain largely unknown. Aureococcus anophagefferens virus (AaV), a giant virus in the Mimiviridae clade, is known to play a critical role in regulating the fate of brown tide blooms caused by the pelagophyte Aureococcus anophagefferens. To understand the physiological response of A. anophagefferens CCMP1984 upon AaV infection, we studied the transcriptomic landscape of this host-virus pair over an entire infection cycle using a RNA-sequencing approach. A massive transcriptional response of the host was evident as early as 5 min post-infection, with modulation of specific processes likely related to both host defense mechanism(s) and viral takeover of the cell. Infected Aureococcus showed a relative suppression of host-cell transcripts associated with photosynthesis, cytoskeleton formation, fatty acid, and carbohydrate biosynthesis. In contrast, host cell processes related to protein synthesis, polyamine biosynthesis, cellular respiration, transcription, and RNA processing were overrepresented compared to the healthy cultures at different stages of the infection cycle. A large number of redox active host-selenoproteins were overexpressed, which suggested that viral replication and assembly progresses in a highly oxidative environment. The majority (99.2%) of annotated AaV genes were expressed at some point during the infection cycle and demonstrated a clear temporal-expression pattern and an increasing relative expression for the majority of the genes through the time course. We detected a putative early promoter motif for AaV, which was highly similar to the early promoter elements of two other Mimiviridae members, indicating some degree of evolutionary conservation of gene regulation within this clade. This large-scale transcriptome study provides insights into the Aureococcus cells infected by a giant virus and establishes a foundation to test hypotheses regarding metabolic and regulatory processes critical for AaV and other Mimiviridae members.

SUBMITTER: Moniruzzaman M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5917014 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Infection by a Giant Virus (AaV) Induces Widespread Physiological Reprogramming in Aureococcus anophagefferens CCMP1984 - A Harmful Bloom Algae.

Moniruzzaman Mohammad M Gann Eric R ER Wilhelm Steven W SW

Frontiers in microbiology 20180419

While viruses with distinct phylogenetic origins and different nucleic acid types can infect and lyse eukaryotic phytoplankton, "giant" dsDNA viruses have been found to be associated with important ecological processes, including the collapse of algal blooms. However, the molecular aspects of giant virus-host interactions remain largely unknown. Aureococcus anophagefferens virus (AaV), a giant virus in the Mimiviridae clade, is known to play a critical role in regulating the fate of brown ...[more]

PMID: 29725322

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Project description:The pelagophyte Aureococcus anophagefferens has caused recurrent brown tide blooms along the northeast coast of the United States since the mid-1980's, and more recently spread to other regions of the globe. These blooms, due to the high cell densities, are associated with severe light attenuation that destroys the sea grass beds which provide the basis for many fisheries. Data collected by transmission electron microscopy, PCR, and metatranscriptomic studies of the blooms, support the hypothesis that large dsDNA viruses play a role in bloom dynamics. While a large (~140 nm) icosahedral virus, with a 371 kbp genome, was first isolated more than a decade ago, the constraints imposed by environmental parameters on bloom infection dynamics by Aureococcus anophagefferens Virus, (AaV) remain unknown. To investigate the role light plays in infection by this virus, we acclimated A. anophagefferens to light intensities of 30 (low), 60 (medium) or 90 μmol photons m-2 s-1 (high) and infected cultures at these irradiance levels. Moreover, we completed light shift experiments where acclimated cultures were exposed to even lower light intensities (0, 5, and 15 μmol photons m-2 s-1) consistent with irradiance found during the peak of the bloom when cell concentrations are highest. The abundance of viruses produced per lytic event (burst size) was lower in the low irradiance acclimated cultures compared to the medium and high acclimated cultures. Transferring infected cultures to more-limiting light availabilities further decreased burst size and increased the length of time it took for cultures to lyse, regardless of acclimation irradiance level. A hypothetical mechanism for the reduced efficiency of the infection cycle in low light due to ribosome biogenesis was predicted from pre-existing transcriptomes. Overall, these studies provide a framework for understanding light effects on infection dynamics over the course of the summer months when A. anophagefferens blooms occur.

Project description:Global ocean change threatens marine life, yet a mechanistic understanding of how organisms are affected by specific stressors is poorly understood. Here, we identify and compare the unique and common transcriptomic responses of an organism experiencing widespread fisheries declines, Argopecten irradians (bay scallop) exposed to multiple stressors including high pCO2, elevated temperature, and two species of harmful algae, Cochlodinium (aka Margalefidinium) polykrikoides and Aureococcus anophagefferens using high-throughput sequencing (RNA-seq). After 48 hr of exposure, scallop transcriptomes revealed distinct expression profiles with larvae exposed to harmful algae (C. polykrikoides and A. anophagefferens) displaying broader responses in terms of significantly and differentially expressed (DE) transcripts (44,922 and 4,973; respectively) than larvae exposed to low pH or elevated temperature (559 and 467; respectively). Patterns of expression between larvae exposed to each harmful algal treatment were, however, strikingly different with larvae exposed to A. anophagefferens displaying large, significant declines in the expression of transcripts (n = 3,615; 87% of DE transcripts) whereas exposure to C. polykrikoides increased the abundance of transcripts, more than all other treatments combined (n = 43,668; 97% of DE transcripts). Larvae exposed to each stressor up-regulated a common set of 21 genes associated with protein synthesis, cellular metabolism, shell growth, and membrane transport. Larvae exposed to C. polykrikoides displayed large increases in antioxidant-associated transcripts, whereas acidification-exposed larvae increased abundance of transcripts associated with shell formation. After 10 days of exposure, each harmful algae caused declines in survival that were significantly greater than all other treatments. Collectively, this study reveals the common and unique transcriptional responses of bivalve larvae to stressors that promote population declines within coastal zones, providing insight into the means by which they promote mortality as well as traits possessed by bay scallops that enable potential resistance.

Dataset Information

Infection by a Giant Virus (AaV) Induces Widespread Physiological Reprogramming in Aureococcus anophagefferens CCMP1984 - A Harmful Bloom Algae.

Publications

Infection by a Giant Virus (AaV) Induces Widespread Physiological Reprogramming in <i>Aureococcus anophagefferens</i> CCMP1984 <i>-</i> A Harmful Bloom Algae.

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