Helen F. Fredricks

TL;DR: It is shown that extractable archaeal rRNA, selecting only for active community members in these ecosystems, is dominated by sequences of uncultivated Archaea affiliated with the Marine Benthic Group B and the Miscellaneous Crenarchaeotal Group, whereas known methanotrophic Archaea are not detectable.

TL;DR: It is shown that phytoplankton, in regions of oligotrophic ocean where phosphate is scarce, reduce their cellular phosphorus requirements by substituting non-phosphorus membrane lipids for phospholipids, suggesting that phospholIPid substitutions are fundamental biochemical mechanisms that allow phy toplankon to maintain growth in the face of phosphorus limitation.

TL;DR: Evolution of this "sulfur-for-phosphorus" strategy set the stage for the success of picocyanobacteria in oligotrophic environments and may have been a major event in Earth's early history when the relative availability of sulfate and PO4(3-) were significantly different from today's ocean.

TL;DR: It is shown that viral glycosphingolipids regulate infection of Emiliania huxleyi, a cosmopolitan coccolithophore that plays a major role in the global carbon cycle.

TL;DR: The results not only corroborate the critical role for glycosphingolipids and programmed cell death in regulating E. huxleyi–EhV interactions, but also elucidate promising molecular biomarkers and lipid-based proxies for phytoplankton host–virus interactions in natural systems.