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Environmental Sampling of Photosynthetic Microbes and Their Viruses: From Field to Lab
Published on: July 3, 2025
Viral lysis accelerates microbial succession patterns resembling diatom senescence
Turk Dermastia Timotej1, Gutiérrez-Aguirre Ion2, Rupnik Tinkara3
1National Institute of Biology, Marine Biology Station Piran, Fornače 41, 6330 Piran, Slovenia.
The ISME Journal
|August 5, 2026
Summary
Viral lysis of diatoms transforms productive blooms into detrital environments, favoring specialized bacteria that degrade organic matter and accelerate nutrient cycling in coastal systems.
Area of Science:
- Marine microbial ecology
- Biogeochemical cycles
- Viral ecology
Background:
- Diatom blooms are crucial for carbon cycling, involving microbial communities in organic matter processing.
- Viruses significantly impact diatom bloom dynamics, but interactions with associated bacteria are not fully understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how viral infection of the diatom Pseudo-nitzschia galaxiae by PnGalRNAV affects host physiology, microbiome structure, and organic matter processing.
- To elucidate the functional and compositional shifts in the microbial community during viral lysis.
Main Methods:
- Epi-fluorescence microscopy
- 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing
- Metatranscriptomics
- Non-axenic batch cultures
Main Results:
- Viral infection rapidly halted diatom growth, inducing a senescence-like state with suppressed photosynthesis and metabolism.
- Microbial communities shifted from Marinobacter dominance to Flavobacteriaceae, with increased detritosphere-associated bacteria and enhanced polysaccharide degradation.
- Viral lysis created a detrital, dissolved organic matter-rich environment, favoring specialized polysaccharide degraders and potentially accelerating nutrient recycling.
Conclusions:
- Viral lysis reshapes diatom physiology and associated microbial communities, accelerating senescence-associated processes.
- This viral shunt redirects carbon and enhances nutrient recycling in marine ecosystems.
- Further research on diverse diatom-virus systems is needed to confirm the broad conservation of these mechanisms.
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