Search

The current consensus concerning the viral regulation of prokaryotic carbon metabolism is less well studied, compared to substrate availability. We explored the seasonal and vertical distribution of viruses and its relative influence on prokaryotic carbon metabolism in a hypereutrophic reservoir, Lake Villerest (France). Flow cytometry and transmission electron microscopy analyses to determine viral abundance (range = 6.1 - 63.5 x 107 ml-1) and viral infection rates of prokaryotes (range = 5.3 - 32%) respectively suggested that both the parameters varied more significantly with depths than with seasons. Prokaryotic growth efficiency (PGE, considered as a proxy of prokaryotic carbon metabolism) calculated from prokaryotic production and respiration measurements (PGE = prokaryotic production/[prokaryotic production + prokaryotic respiration] x 100) varied from 14 to 80% across seasons and depths. Viruses through selective lyses had antagonistic impacts on PGE by regulating key prokaryotic metabolic processes (i.e. production and respiration). Higher viral lysis accompanied by higher respiration rates and lower PGE in the summer (mean = 22.9 ± 10.3%) than other seasons (mean = 59.1 ± 18.6%), led to significant loss of carbon through bacterial-viral loop and shifted the reservoir system to net heterotrophy. Our data therefore suggests that the putative adverse impact of viruses on the growth efficiency of the prokaryotic community can have strong implications on nutrient flux patterns and on the overall ecosystem metabolism in anthropogenic dominated aquatic systems such as Lake Villerest.

Viruses impact microbial activity and carbon cycling in various environments, but their diversity and ecological importance in Sphagnum-peatlands are unknown. Abundances of viral particles and prokaryotes were monitored bi-monthly at a fen and a bog at two different depths. Viral particle abundance ranged from 1.7x106 to 5.6x108 particles mL-1, and did not differ between fen and bog but showed seasonal fluctuations. These fluctuations were positively correlated with prokaryote abundance and dissolved organic carbon, and negatively correlated with water-table height and dissolved oxygen. Using shotgun metagenomics we observed a shift in viral diversity between winter/spring and summer/autumn, indicating a seasonal succession of viral communities, mainly driven by weather-related environmental changes. Based on the seasonal asynchrony between viral and microbial diversity, we hypothesize a seasonal shift in the active microbial communities associated with a shift from lysogenic to lytic lifestyles. Our results suggest that temporal variations of environmental conditions rather than current habitat differences control the dynamics of virus-host interactions in Sphagnum-dominated peatlands.

Microviridae, a family of bacteria-infecting ssDNA viruses, is a member of the still poorly characterized bacteriophages, even though they include phage PhiX174, one of the main models in virology for genomic and capsid structure studies. Recent studies suggest that they are diverse and well represented in marine and freshwater virioplankton as well as in human microbiomes. Despite previous knowledge, their diversity, abundance and ecological role are completely unknown in soil ecosystems. Here we present the comparative analysis of 17 completely assembled Microviridae genomes from 12 viromes of a Sphagnum-dominated peatland. Phylogenetic analysis of the conserved major capsid protein sequences revealed the affiliation to Gokushovirinae and Pichovirinae as well as to two newly defined subfamilies, the Aravirinae and Stokavirinae. Structural modeling of the Aravirinae major capsid protein showed similarities to Alpavirinae and Pichovirinae but revealed two additional variable regions potentially involved in phage-host recognition. Two new distinct prophages were identified in the genomes of Parabacteroides merdae and Parabacteroides distasonis representing a potential new subfamily of Microviridae. The differentiation of the subfamilies was confirmed by gene order and similarity analysis. Relative abundance analysis using the affiliation of the major capsid protein (VP1) revealed that Gokushovirinae, followed by Aravirinae, are the most abundant Microviridae in 11 out of 12 peat viromes. Sequences matching the Gokushovirinae and Aravirinae VP1 matching sequences respectively accounted for up to 4.19% and 0.65% of the total number of sequences in the corresponding virome, respectively. In this study we provide new genome information of Microviridae and pave the way towards quantitative estimations of Microviridae subfamilies.

This study assesses the quantitative impact of parasitic chytrids on the planktonic food web of two contrasting freshwater lakes during different algal bloom situations. Carbon-based food web models were used to investigate the effects of chytrids during the spring diatom bloom of Lake Pavin (oligo-mesotrophic) and the autumn cyanobacteria bloom of Lake Aydat (eutrophic). Linear inverse modelling was employed to estimate undetermined flows in both lakes. The Monte Carlo Markov chain linear inverse modelling procedure provided estimates of the ranges of model-derived fluxes. Model results confirm recent theories on the probable impact of parasites on food web function as grazers and recyclers. During blooms of inedible algae (unexploited by planktonic herbivores), the epidemic growth of chytrids channelled 19-20% of the primary production in both lakes through the production of grazer-exploitable zoospores. The parasitic throughput represents 50 and 57% of the zooplankton diet respectively in the oligo-mesotrophic and in the eutrophic lakes. Parasites also affected ecological network properties as longer carbon path lengths and loop strength, and contributed to increase the stability of the aquatic food web, notably in the oligo-mesotrophic Lake Pavin.# The first two authors contributed equally to this work

Since the discovery 2-3 decades ago that viruses of microbes are abundant in marine ecosystems, viral ecology has grown increasingly to reach the status of a full scientific discipline in environmental sciences. A dedicated ISVM society, the International Society for Viruses of Microorganisms (http://www.isvm.org/), was recently launched. Increasing studies in viral ecology are sources of novel knowledge related to the biodiversity of living things, the functioning of ecosystems, and the evolution of the cellular world. This is because viruses are perhaps the most diverse, abundant, and ubiquitous biological entities in the biosphere, although local environmental conditions enrich for certain viral types through selective pressure. They exhibit various lifestyles that intimately depend on the deep-cellular mechanisms, and are ultimately replicated by members of all three domains of cellular life (Bacteria, Eukarya, Archaea), as well as by giant viruses of some eukaryotic cells. This establishes viral parasites as microbial killers but also as cell partners or metabolic manipulators in microbial ecology. The present chapter sought to review the literature on the diversity and functional roles of viruses of microbes in environmental microbiology, focusing primarily on prokaryotic viruses (i.e. phages) in aquatic ecosystems, which form the bulk of our knowledge in modern environmental viral ecology.

Parasitism is one of the earlier and common ecological interactions in the nature, occurring in almost all environments. Microbial parasites typically are characterized by their small size, short generation time, and high rates of reproduction, with simple life cycle occurring generally within a single host. They are diverse and ubiquitous in aquatic ecosystems, comprising viruses, prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Recently, environmental 18S-rDNA surveys of microbial eukaryotes have unveiled major infecting agents in pelagic systems, consisting primarily of the fungal order of Chytridiales (chytrids). Chytrids are considered the earlier branch of the Eumycetes and produce motile, flagellated zoospores, characterized by a small size (2-6 µm) and a single, posterior flagellum. The existence of these dispersal propagules includes chytrids within the so-called group of zoosporic fungi, which are particularly adapted to the plankton lifestyle where they infect a wide variety of hosts, including fishes, eggs, zooplankton, algae, and other aquatic fungi but primarily freshwater phytoplankton. Related ecological implications are huge because chytrids can killed their hosts, release substrates for microbial processes, and provide nutrient-rich particles as zoospores and short fragments of filamentous inedible hosts for the grazer food chain. Furthermore, based on the observation that phytoplankton chytridiomycosis preferentially impacts the larger size species, blooms of such species (e.g. filamentous cyanobacteria) may not totally represent trophic bottlenecks. Besides, chytrid epidemics represent an important driving factor in phytoplankton seasonal successions. In this review, I summarize the knowledge on the diversity, community structure, quantitative importance, and functional roles of fungal chytrids, primarily those who are parasites of phytoplankton, and infer the ecological implications and potentials for the food web dynamics and properties.