Journal ArticleDOI
High abundance of viruses found in aquatic environments.
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Using a new method for quantitative enumeration, up to 2.5 x IO8 virus particles per millilitre in natural waters indicate that virus infection may be an important factor in the ecological control of planktonic micro-organisms.Abstract:
The concentration of bacteriophages in natural unpolluted waters is in general believed to be low, and they have therefore been considered ecologically unimportant. Using a new method for quantitative enumeration, we have found up to 2.5 x 10(8) virus particles per millilitre in natural waters. These concentrations indicate that virus infection may be an important factor in the ecological control of planktonic micro-organisms, and that viruses might mediate genetic exchange among bacteria in natural aquatic environments.read more
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Journal ArticleDOI
The ultrastructural indicators of aquatic ecosystem health
TL;DR: Information on direct counting by TEM of viral femtoplankton indicates that viruses can be present in numbers 103 to 107 times greater than previously estimated by the traditional counts of plaque-forming units using various host bacteria, indicating that virus infections may exert ecological control over planktonic microbes.
Journal ArticleDOI
Contrasting seasonal drivers of virus abundance and production in the North Pacific Ocean.
P. Jackson Gainer,Helena L. Pound,Alyse A. Larkin,Gary R. LeCleir,Jennifer M. DeBruyn,Erik R. Zinser,Zackary I. Johnson,Steven W. Wilhelm +7 more
TL;DR: The data suggest that both biotic and abiotic factors affect the distribution of virus particles and that particle-associated communities may be important drivers of virus activity.
Journal ArticleDOI
Virophages to viromes: a report from the frontier of viral oceanography.
TL;DR: Findings discussed in this review include the discovery of giant viruses that have genome sizes and metabolic capabilities that distort the line between virus and cell, viruses that participate in photosynthesis and apoptosis, the detection of communities of viruses of all genomic compositions and the preeminence of viruses in the evolution of marine microbes.
Journal ArticleDOI
Effects of virus infection on respiration rates of marine phytoplankton and microplankton communities
TL;DR: Viral infection of microplanktonic organisms could be one of the factors significantly modifying pelagic carbon fluxes in marine microbial pelagic communities, and if the results can be extrapolated to nature, then the fate of primary production andcarbon fluxes could be strongly modulated by viral infection.
Virus-Like Particles in Microbial Population Control and Horizontal Gene Transfer in the Aquatic Environment
TL;DR: Viruses, or Virus-Like Particles, occur in large numbers and are acknowledged to be general constituents of aquatic ecosystems and are likely to control microbial populations and promote microbial diversity by non-specific gene transfer with hosts composing a wider phylogenetic range in natural microbial populations.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Minimum bacterial density for bacteriophage replication: implications for significance of bacteriophages in natural ecosystems.
B A Wiggins,M Alexander +1 more
TL;DR: It is suggested that bacteriophages do not affect the number or activity of bacteria in environments where the density of the host species is below the host cell threshold of about 10(4) CFU/ml.
Journal ArticleDOI
Rate of bacterial mortality in aquatic environments
TL;DR: Results obtained from river water, estuarine water, and seawater show overall bacterial mortality rates in the range 0.010 to 0.030 h, in good agreement with the range of growth rates measured in the same environments.
Journal ArticleDOI
Do bacteria-sized marine eukaryotes consume significant bacterial production?
Jed A. Fuhrman,George B. McManus +1 more
TL;DR: Evidence is presented that previously uncharacterized, small eukaryotes that are able to pass even 0.6-micrometer filters may be responsible for a large fraction of the total grazing in coastal waters.