Simultaneous estimation of viral lysis and protozoan grazing on bacterial mortality using a modified virus-dilution method.

The article presents a study which uses a modified virus-dilution method in estimation of viral lysis and protozoan grazing on bacterial mortality. It compares modified virus-dilution method with the standard dilution protocol. It also aims to verify influence of the absence of lytic parameter in the standard protocol. Collected seawater samples from the coastal waters of Hokkaido, Japan were subjected to epifluorescence microscopy in the enumeration of microbes. It presents the advantages of modified virus-dilution technique synonymous to the standard dilution technique. It shows that the use of standard dilution protocol might underestimate instantaneous growth rate especially on pelagic systems where lytic pressure is relatively high.