Back to Search
Start Over
Infection paradox: high abundance but low impact of freshwater benthic viruses
- Source :
- Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Applied and Environmental Microbiology, American Society for Microbiology, 2006, 72 (7), pp.4893-8. ⟨10.1128/AEM.00319-06⟩, Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 2006, 72 (7), pp.4893-8. ⟨10.1128/AEM.00319-06⟩
- Publication Year :
- 2006
- Publisher :
- HAL CCSD, 2006.
-
Abstract
- The discovery of an abundant and diverse virus community in oceans and lakes has profoundly reshaped ideas about global carbon and nutrient fluxes, food web dynamics, and maintenance of microbial biodiversity. These roles are exerted through massive viral impact on the population dynamics of heterotrophic bacterioplankton and primary producers. We took advantage of a shallow wetland system with contrasting microhabitats in close proximity to demonstrate that in marked contrast to pelagic systems, viral infection, determined directly by transmission electron microscopy, and consequently mortality of prokaryotes were surprisingly low in benthic habitats in all seasons. This was true even though free viruses were abundant throughout the year and bacterial infection and mortality rates were high in surrounding water. The habitats in which we found this pattern include sediment, decomposing plant litter, and biofilms on aquatic vegetation. Overall, we detected viruses in only 4 of a total of ∼15,000 bacterial cells inspected in these three habitats; for comparison, nearly 300 of ∼5,000 cells suspended in the water column were infected. The strikingly low incidence of impact of phages in the benthos may have important implications, since a major portion of microbial biodiversity and global carbon and nutrient turnover are associated with surfaces. Therefore, if failure to infect benthic bacteria is a widespread phenomenon, then the global role of viruses in controlling microbial diversity, food web dynamics, and biogeochemical cycles would be greatly diminished compared to predictions based on data from planktonic environments.
- Subjects :
- Geologic Sediments
Population
Biology
Poaceae
Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology
Microbial Ecology
03 medical and health sciences
Benthos
Microscopy, Electron, Transmission
Abundance
Ecosystem
Bacteriophages
14. Life underwater
education
030304 developmental biology
0303 health sciences
education.field_of_study
Ecology
Bacteria
030306 microbiology
Fresh water
fungi
Virion
Pelagic zone
Bacterioplankton
15. Life on land
Plankton
Food web
Virus
Benthic zone
Biofilms
Seasons
[SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology
Infection
Food Science
Biotechnology
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 00992240 and 10985336
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Applied and Environmental Microbiology, American Society for Microbiology, 2006, 72 (7), pp.4893-8. ⟨10.1128/AEM.00319-06⟩, Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 2006, 72 (7), pp.4893-8. ⟨10.1128/AEM.00319-06⟩
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....44336461f8184314a53de29f81e27722