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Journal ArticleDOI

Marine viruses — major players in the global ecosystem

Curtis A. Suttle
- 01 Oct 2007 - 
- Vol. 5, Iss: 10, pp 801-812
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TLDR
Viruses are by far the most abundant 'lifeforms' in the oceans and are the reservoir of most of the genetic diversity in the sea, thereby driving the evolution of both host and viral assemblages.
Abstract
If stretched end to end, the estimated 1030viruses in the oceans would span farther than the nearest 60 galaxies. This reservoir of genetic and biological diversity continues to yield exciting discoveries and, in this Review, Curtis A. Suttle highlights the areas that are likely to be of greatest interest in the next few years. Viruses are by far the most abundant 'lifeforms' in the oceans and are the reservoir of most of the genetic diversity in the sea. The estimated 1030 viruses in the ocean, if stretched end to end, would span farther than the nearest 60 galaxies. Every second, approximately 1023 viral infections occur in the ocean. These infections are a major source of mortality, and cause disease in a range of organisms, from shrimp to whales. As a result, viruses influence the composition of marine communities and are a major force behind biogeochemical cycles. Each infection has the potential to introduce new genetic information into an organism or progeny virus, thereby driving the evolution of both host and viral assemblages. Probing this vast reservoir of genetic and biological diversity continues to yield exciting discoveries.

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Citations
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References
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Journal ArticleDOI

Marine viruses and their biogeochemical and ecological effects

TL;DR: Newly developed fluorescence and molecular techniques leave the field poised to make significant advances towards evaluating and quantifying viruses' effects on biogeochemical and ecological processes.
Journal ArticleDOI

The Sorcerer II Global Ocean Sampling Expedition: Northwest Atlantic through Eastern Tropical Pacific

TL;DR: A metagenomic study of the marine planktonic microbiota in which surface (mostly marine) water samples were analyzed as part of the Sorcerer II Global Ocean Sampling expedition, which yielded an extensive dataset consisting of 7.7 million sequencing reads.
Journal ArticleDOI

Virioplankton: viruses in aquatic ecosystems

TL;DR: Novel applications of molecular genetic techniques have provided good evidence that viral infection can significantly influence the composition and diversity of aquatic microbial communities, supporting the hypothesis that viruses play a significant role in microbial food webs.
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