Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 23, 2026

A Rapid Strategy for the Isolation of New Faustoviruses from Environmental Samples Using Vermamoeba vermiformis
Published on: June 4, 2016
Marine viruses: truth or dare
1College of Marine Science, University of South Florida, Saint Petersburg, Florida 33701, USA. mya@marine.usf.edu
Abstract:
Over the past two decades, marine virology has progressed from a curiosity to an intensely studied topic of critical importance to oceanography. At concentrations of approximately 10 million viruses per milliliter of surface seawater, viruses are the most abundant biological entities in the oceans. The majority of these viruses are phages (viruses that infect bacteria). Through lysing their bacterial hosts, marine phages control bacterial abundance, affect community composition, and impact global biogeochemical cycles. In addition, phages influence their hosts through selection for resistance, horizontal gene transfer, and manipulation of bacterial metabolism. Recent work has also demonstrated that marine phages are extremely diverse and can carry a variety of auxiliary metabolic genes encoding critical ecological functions. This review is structured as a scientific "truth or dare," revealing several well-established "truths" about marine viruses and presenting a few "dares" for the research community to undertake in future studies.
More Related Videos
11:12Protocols for Investigating the Host-tissue Distribution, Transmission-mode, and Effect on the Host Fitness of a Densovirus in the Cotton Bollworm
Published on: April 12, 2017
10:43Unraveling the Unseen Players in the Ocean - A Field Guide to Water Chemistry and Marine Microbiology
Published on: November 5, 2014
Related Concept Videos
What are Viruses?
Viruses of Archaea
Human Virome
Viruses with RNA Genomes
Viral Recombination
Introduction to Virus