Communities of Phytoplankton Viruses across the Transition Zone of the St. Lawrence Estuary

Labbé, Myriam; Raymond, Frédéric; Lévesque, Alice; Thaler, Mary; Mohit, Vani; Audet, Martyne; Corbeil, Jacques; Culley, Alexander

doi:10.3390/v10120672

Open AccessArticle

Communities of Phytoplankton Viruses across the Transition Zone of the St. Lawrence Estuary

by

Myriam Labbé

¹

,

Frédéric Raymond

²,

Alice Lévesque

¹,

Mary Thaler

¹,

Vani Mohit

¹,

Martyne Audet

¹,

Jacques Corbeil

²

and

Alexander Culley

^1,*

¹

Département de Biochimie, de Microbiologie et de Bio-Informatique, Université Laval, Québec City, QC G1V 0A6, Canada

²

Centre de Recherche du Centre Hospitalier de l’Université Laval-Québec, Québec City, QC G1V 4G2, Canada

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Viruses 2018, 10(12), 672; https://doi.org/10.3390/v10120672

Submission received: 31 October 2018 / Revised: 21 November 2018 / Accepted: 22 November 2018 / Published: 27 November 2018

(This article belongs to the Special Issue CSV2018: The 2nd symposium of the Canadian Society for Virology (CSV))

Download

Browse Figures

Versions Notes

Abstract

The St. Lawrence hydrographic system includes freshwater, brackish, and marine habitats, and is the largest waterway in North America by volume. The food-webs in these habitats are ultimately dependent on phytoplankton. Viral lysis is believed to be responsible for a major part of phytoplankton mortality. To better understand their role, we characterized the diversity and distribution of two viral taxa infecting phytoplankton: the picornaviruses and phycodnaviruses. Our study focused on the estuary transition zone, which is an important nursery for invertebrates and fishes. Both viral taxa were investigated by PCR amplification of conserved molecular markers and next-generation sequencing at six sites, ranging from freshwater to marine. Our results revealed few shared viral phylotypes between saltwater and freshwater sites. Salinity appeared to be the primary determinant of viral community composition. Moreover, our analysis indicated that the viruses identified in this region of the St. Lawrence diverge from classified viruses and homologous published environmental virotypes. These results suggest that DNA and RNA viruses infecting phytoplankton are likely active in the estuary transition zone, and that this region harbors its own unique viral assemblages.

Keywords: aquatic viruses; DNA Polymerase B; Phycodnaviridae; Picornavirales; RNA-dependent RNA polymerase; St. Lawrence Estuary; viral ecology

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Labbé, M.; Raymond, F.; Lévesque, A.; Thaler, M.; Mohit, V.; Audet, M.; Corbeil, J.; Culley, A. Communities of Phytoplankton Viruses across the Transition Zone of the St. Lawrence Estuary. Viruses 2018, 10, 672. https://doi.org/10.3390/v10120672

AMA Style

Labbé M, Raymond F, Lévesque A, Thaler M, Mohit V, Audet M, Corbeil J, Culley A. Communities of Phytoplankton Viruses across the Transition Zone of the St. Lawrence Estuary. Viruses. 2018; 10(12):672. https://doi.org/10.3390/v10120672

Chicago/Turabian Style

Labbé, Myriam, Frédéric Raymond, Alice Lévesque, Mary Thaler, Vani Mohit, Martyne Audet, Jacques Corbeil, and Alexander Culley. 2018. "Communities of Phytoplankton Viruses across the Transition Zone of the St. Lawrence Estuary" Viruses 10, no. 12: 672. https://doi.org/10.3390/v10120672

APA Style

Labbé, M., Raymond, F., Lévesque, A., Thaler, M., Mohit, V., Audet, M., Corbeil, J., & Culley, A. (2018). Communities of Phytoplankton Viruses across the Transition Zone of the St. Lawrence Estuary. Viruses, 10(12), 672. https://doi.org/10.3390/v10120672

Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

Article Menu

Communities of Phytoplankton Viruses across the Transition Zone of the St. Lawrence Estuary

Abstract

Share and Cite

Article Metrics

Article Access Statistics

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI