Global morphological analysis of marine viruses shows minimal regional variation and dominance of non-tailed viruses
- PMID: 23635867
- PMCID: PMC3749506
- DOI: 10.1038/ismej.2013.67
Global morphological analysis of marine viruses shows minimal regional variation and dominance of non-tailed viruses
Abstract
Viruses influence oceanic ecosystems by causing mortality of microorganisms, altering nutrient and organic matter flux via lysis and auxiliary metabolic gene expression and changing the trajectory of microbial evolution through horizontal gene transfer. Limited host range and differing genetic potential of individual virus types mean that investigations into the types of viruses that exist in the ocean and their spatial distribution throughout the world's oceans are critical to understanding the global impacts of marine viruses. Here we evaluate viral morphological characteristics (morphotype, capsid diameter and tail length) using a quantitative transmission electron microscopy (qTEM) method across six of the world's oceans and seas sampled through the Tara Oceans Expedition. Extensive experimental validation of the qTEM method shows that neither sample preservation nor preparation significantly alters natural viral morphological characteristics. The global sampling analysis demonstrated that morphological characteristics did not vary consistently with depth (surface versus deep chlorophyll maximum waters) or oceanic region. Instead, temperature, salinity and oxygen concentration, but not chlorophyll a concentration, were more explanatory in evaluating differences in viral assemblage morphological characteristics. Surprisingly, given that the majority of cultivated bacterial viruses are tailed, non-tailed viruses appear to numerically dominate the upper oceans as they comprised 51-92% of the viral particles observed. Together, these results document global marine viral morphological characteristics, show that their minimal variability is more explained by environmental conditions than geography and suggest that non-tailed viruses might represent the most ecologically important targets for future research.
Figures
![Figure 1](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/instance/3749506/bin/ismej201367f1.gif)
![Figure 2](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/instance/3749506/bin/ismej201367f2.gif)
![Figure 3](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/instance/3749506/bin/ismej201367f3.gif)
![Figure 4](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/instance/3749506/bin/ismej201367f4.gif)
![Figure 5](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/instance/3749506/bin/ismej201367f5.gif)
Similar articles
-
Diverse and unique viruses discovered in the surface water of the East China Sea.BMC Genomics. 2020 Jun 26;21(1):441. doi: 10.1186/s12864-020-06861-y. BMC Genomics. 2020. PMID: 32590932 Free PMC article.
-
Ocean plankton. Patterns and ecological drivers of ocean viral communities.Science. 2015 May 22;348(6237):1261498. doi: 10.1126/science.1261498. Science. 2015. PMID: 25999515
-
Marine viruses: truth or dare.Ann Rev Mar Sci. 2012;4:425-48. doi: 10.1146/annurev-marine-120709-142805. Ann Rev Mar Sci. 2012. PMID: 22457982 Review.
-
Marine viruses and global climate change.FEMS Microbiol Rev. 2011 Nov;35(6):993-1034. doi: 10.1111/j.1574-6976.2010.00258.x. Epub 2011 Jan 4. FEMS Microbiol Rev. 2011. PMID: 21204862 Review.
-
The marine viromes of four oceanic regions.PLoS Biol. 2006 Nov;4(11):e368. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.0040368. PLoS Biol. 2006. PMID: 17090214 Free PMC article.
Cited by
-
Megataxonomy and global ecology of the virosphere.ISME J. 2024 Jan 8;18(1):wrad042. doi: 10.1093/ismejo/wrad042. ISME J. 2024. PMID: 38365236 Free PMC article. Review.
-
Jorvik: A membrane-containing phage that will likely found a new family within Vinavirales.iScience. 2023 Sep 29;26(11):108104. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.108104. eCollection 2023 Nov 17. iScience. 2023. PMID: 37867962 Free PMC article.
-
Highly divergent CRESS DNA and picorna-like viruses associated with bleached thalli of the green seaweed Ulva.Microbiol Spectr. 2023 Sep 19;11(5):e0025523. doi: 10.1128/spectrum.00255-23. Online ahead of print. Microbiol Spectr. 2023. PMID: 37724866 Free PMC article.
-
Genomic diversity and ecological distribution of marine Pseudoalteromonas phages.Mar Life Sci Technol. 2023 Jan 20;5(2):271-285. doi: 10.1007/s42995-022-00160-z. eCollection 2023 May. Mar Life Sci Technol. 2023. PMID: 37275543 Free PMC article.
-
Virioplankton and virus-induced mortality of prokaryotes in the Kara Sea (Arctic) in summer.PeerJ. 2023 May 23;11:e15457. doi: 10.7717/peerj.15457. eCollection 2023. PeerJ. 2023. PMID: 37250716 Free PMC article.
References
-
- Abramoff MD, Magalhaes PJ, Ram SJ. Image processing with ImageJ. Biophotonics Int. 2004;11:36–42.
-
- Ackermann HW. 5500 phages examined in the electron microscope. Arch Virol. 2007;152:227–243. - PubMed
-
- Ackermann HW. Frequency of morphological phage descriptions in the year 2000. Arch Virol. 2001;146:843–857. - PubMed
-
- Ackermann H-W, Heldal M.2010Basic electron microscopy of aquatic virusesIn: Wilhelm SW, Weinbauer MG, Suttle CA (eds).Manual of Aquatic Viral Ecology ASLO: Waco; 182–192.
-
- Allers E, Moraru C, Duhaime MB, Beneze E, Solonenko N, Barrero-Canosa J, et al. 2013Single-cell and population level viral infection dynamics revealed by phageFISH, a method to visualize intracellular and free viruses Environ Microbiole-pub ahead of print 14 March 2013doi:10.1111/1462-2920.12100 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
Publication types
MeSH terms
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Other Literature Sources