Lysogenic virus-host interactions predominate at deep-sea diffuse-flow hydrothermal vents.
The consequences of viral infection within microbial communities are dependent on the nature of the viral life cycle. Among the possible outcomes is the substantial influence of temperate viruses on the phenotypes of lysogenic prokaryotes through various forms of genetic exchange. To date, no marine microbial ecosystem has consistently shown a predisposition for containing significant numbers of inducible temperate viruses. Here, we show that deep-sea diffuse-flow hydrothermal vent waters display a consistently high incidence of lysogenic hosts and harbor substantial populations of temperate viruses. Genetic fingerprinting and initial metagenomic analyses indicate that temperate viruses in vent waters appear to be a less diverse subset of the larger virioplankton community and that these viral populations contain an extraordinarily high frequency of novel genes. Thus, it appears likely that temperate viruses are key players in the ecology of prokaryotes within the extreme geothermal ecosystems of the deep sea.
Williamson
Shannon J
SJ
University of Delaware, Graduate College of Marine Studies, Newark, DE 19711, USA.
Cary
S Craig
SC
Williamson
Kurt E
KE
Helton
Rebekah R
RR
Bench
Shellie R
SR
Winget
Danielle
D
Wommack
K Eric
KE
D001419:Bacteria / Q000821:virology*; D001435:Bacteriophages / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D005814:Genes, Viral; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions; D045482:Hot Springs / Q000382:microbiology*; D008242:Lysogeny; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D019105:Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Technique; D012623:Seawater / Q000382:microbiology*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
D004279:DNA, Viral