Filamentous phages prevalent in Pseudoalteromonas spp. confer properties advantageous to host survival in Arctic sea ice.

ABSTRACT: Sea ice is one of the most frigid environments for marine microbes. In contrast to other ocean ecosystems, microbes in permanent sea ice are space confined and subject to many extreme conditions, which change on a seasonal basis. How these microbial communities are regulated to survive the extreme sea ice environment is largely unknown. Here, we show that filamentous phages regulate the host bacterial community to improve survival of the host in permanent Arctic sea ice. We isolated a filamentous phage, f327, from an Arctic sea ice Pseudoalteromonas strain, and we demonstrated that this type of phage is widely distributed in Arctic sea ice. Growth experiments and transcriptome analysis indicated that this phage decreases the host growth rate, cell density and tolerance to NaCl and H2O2, bu

SUBMITTER: Yu ZC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4817708 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature