Moderate Seasonal Dynamics Indicate an Important Role for Lysogeny in the Red Sea
1
Red Sea Research Center (RSRC), Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering Division (BESE), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal 23955, Saudi Arabia
2
Department of Biology, College of Science, University of Jeddah, Jeddah 21493, Saudi Arabia
3
Departments of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, and Microbiology and Immunology, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada
4
Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editor: Ulrich (Uli) Stingl
Microorganisms 2021, 9(6), 1269; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9061269
Received: 1 April 2021
/
Revised: 8 May 2021
/
Accepted: 13 May 2021
/
Published: 11 June 2021
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Planktonic Coastal Microbial Communities – Composition, Seasonal Variation, Genomics, and Physiology)
Viruses are the most abundant microorganisms in marine environments and viral infections can be either lytic (virulent) or lysogenic (temperate phage) within the host cell. The aim of this study was to quantify viral dynamics (abundance and infection) in the coastal Red Sea, a narrow oligotrophic basin with high surface water temperatures (22–32 °C degrees), high salinity (37.5–41) and continuous high insolation, thus making it a stable and relatively unexplored environment. We quantified viral and environmental changes in the Red Sea (two years) and the occurrence of lysogenic bacteria (induced by mitomycin C) on the second year. Water temperatures ranged from 24.0 to 32.5 °C, and total viral and bacterial abundances ranged from 1.5 to 8.7 × 106 viruses mL−1 and 1.9 to 3.2 × 105 bacteria mL−1, respectively. On average, 12.24% ± 4.8 (SE) of the prophage bacteria could be induced by mitomycin C, with the highest percentage of 55.8% observed in January 2018 when bacterial abundances were low; whereas no induction was measurable in spring when bacterial abundances were highest. Thus, despite the fact that the Red Sea might be perceived as stable, warm and saline, relatively modest changes in seasonal conditions were associated with large swings in the prevalence of lysogeny.
View Full-Text
Keywords:
lysogenic marine microbes; lysogenic marine bacteria; marine viruses; mitomycin C; viral production; lytic; lysogeny; Red Sea; oligotrophic; temperature
▼
Show Figures
Figure 1
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
- Supplementary File 1:
ZIP-Document (ZIP, 9 KiB)
MDPI and ACS Style
Abdulrahman Ashy, R.; Suttle, C.A.; Agustí, S. Moderate Seasonal Dynamics Indicate an Important Role for Lysogeny in the Red Sea. Microorganisms 2021, 9, 1269. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9061269
AMA Style
Abdulrahman Ashy R, Suttle CA, Agustí S. Moderate Seasonal Dynamics Indicate an Important Role for Lysogeny in the Red Sea. Microorganisms. 2021; 9(6):1269. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9061269
Chicago/Turabian StyleAbdulrahman Ashy, Ruba, Curtis A. Suttle, and Susana Agustí. 2021. "Moderate Seasonal Dynamics Indicate an Important Role for Lysogeny in the Red Sea" Microorganisms 9, no. 6: 1269. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9061269
Find Other Styles
Note that from the first issue of 2016, MDPI journals use article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.
