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Updated: Aug 7, 2026
08:01
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 detritus, favoring bacteria that degrade organic matter and accelerating nutrient cycling in coastal waters.
Area of Science:
- Marine microbial ecology
- Biogeochemical cycles
- Viral ecology
Background:
- Diatom blooms are crucial for marine carbon cycling, influencing organic matter production and remineralization.
- Viruses play a significant role in regulating diatom bloom dynamics and termination.
- Interactions between diatoms, their viruses, and 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 link microbial community composition, localization, and function during viral lysis events.
Main Methods:
- Non-axenic batch cultures of Pseudo-nitzschia galaxiae and PnGalRNAV were used.
- Epi-fluorescence microscopy, 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing, and metatranscriptomics were employed.
- Analysis focused on microbial changes during viral lysis and comparison with senescent controls.
Main Results:
- Viral infection rapidly halted diatom growth, inducing a senescence-like state with suppressed photosynthesis and metabolism.
- Bacterial communities shifted from Marinobacter dominance to Flavobacteriaceae, with increased abundance of detritosphere-associated bacteria.
- Bacterial metatranscriptomes revealed enhanced polysaccharide degradation, indicating utilization of diatom-derived compounds.
Conclusions:
- Viral lysis transforms diatom blooms into detrital environments, promoting specialized polysaccharide degraders and carbon redirection via the viral shunt.
- Infection accelerates senescence-associated microbial processes, potentially enhancing nutrient recycling in coastal ecosystems.
- Further research on diverse diatom-virus systems is needed to confirm the broad conservation of these mechanisms.
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