Marine and freshwater cyanophages in a Laurentian Great Lake: evidence from infectivity assays and molecular analyses of g20 genes.

ABSTRACT: While it is well established that viruses play an important role in the structure of marine microbial food webs, few studies have directly addressed their role in large lake systems. As part of an ongoing study of the microbial ecology of Lake Erie, we have examined the distribution and diversity of viruses in this system. One surprising result has been the pervasive distribution of cyanophages that infect the marine cyanobacterial isolate Synechococcus sp. strain WH7803. Viruses that lytically infect this cyanobacterium were identified throughout the western basin of Lake Erie, as well as in locations within the central and eastern basins. Analyses of the gene encoding the g20 viral capsid assembly protein (a conservative phylogenetic marker for the cyanophage) indicate that these viruses

SUBMITTER: Wilhelm SW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1489316 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature