Year: 2022

MARINE VIRUSES CAUSE BILATERAL GENE TRANSFER IN PHYTOPLANKTON adding to their genetic diversity. "Along with the sequencing of the EhV-86 genome came the discovery, for the first time in a virus, of a series of enzyme-coding genes predicted to be involved in the biosynthesis of sphingolipids. Viruses are known to carry a variety of host genes." The host sphingolipid genes in the virus are thought to cause host death by apoptosis. " " http://lnkd.in/dWGhytf View in LinkedIn

BILATERAL GENE TRANSFER between viruses and phytoplankton. "The first case of horizontal gene transfer of multiple functionally linked enzymes in a eukaryotic phytoplankton-virus system. The virus-to-host direction suggests the existence of ancient viruses that controlled the complex metabolic pathway... the host-to-virus direction suggests that the serial acquisition of genes involved in the same metabolic pathway... a strategy for the ancestor of EhVs to stay ahead of their closest relatives in the great evolutionary race for survival."" " http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/19451591/ View in LinkedIn

GENETIC DIVERSITY IN PHYTOPLANKTON. "Comparisons across strains demonstrate that E. huxleyi, which has long been considered a single species, harbours extensive genome variability reflected in different metabolic repertoires. Genome variability within this species complex seems to underpin its capacity both to thrive in habitats ranging from the equator to the subarctic and to form large-scale episodic blooms under a wide variety of environmental conditions."" " http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/23760476/ View in LinkedIn

VIRUSES AND PHYTOPLANKTON CO-EVOLVE. "It is estimated that 20%–40% of microorganisms in surface sea waters are killed by viruses each day. Being basal components of marine microbial food webs, viruses thus significantly contribute to the cycling of energy and nutrient on a global scale."" " http://lnkd.in/dWGhytf View in LinkedIn

MARINE MICROBIAL ECOSYSTEM IS KEY TO SURVIVAL. "Microbial interactions are at the core of species success or failure. These interactions constitute an important component of microbial communities, where synergism, competition or grazing among species can drive the diversity of an ecosystem."" " http://lnkd.in/dpEAGD3 View in LinkedIn

VIRUS AND PHYTOPLANKTON INTIMACY. "Mixing of genetic pools between viruses and their hosts by horizontal transfer or through symbiotic association might have played significant roles in the evolution of viruses as well as of their hosts. The “eukaryogenesis” theory proposes that viruses might have been at the origin of the nucleus and that viruses have provided several “viral” features to primitive cells, which are now seen as properties of modern eukaryotic cells."" " http://lnkd.in/dWGhytf View in LinkedIn

OCEANS ARE HUGE INTERACTIVE GENE POOLS which constantly recombine between viruses and phytoplankton making the focus on species rather less relevant." ""The team's studies are showing that all Prochlorococcus strains "are very closely related, yet they display quite an array of physiologies, and astounding genetic diversity on top of that. It's becoming clear, too, that this genetic diversity is at the heart of the extraordinary stability of Prochlorococcus in the oceans, which maintains steady population sizes over vast regions" of the sea."" " http://lnkd.in/dX7bkKE View in LinkedIn

WIDE GENETIC VARIABILITY IN PHYTOPLANKTON. "In 2003, Prochlorococcus became one of the first marine microbes to have its entire set of genes sequenced. It’s an impressively small genome for the most abundant photosynthetic organism on the planet, for the source of the oxygen filling every fifth breath you take. . While individual Prochlorococcus genomes share a core of about 1,200 genes, hundreds of other genes vary wildly from strain to strain.”" " http://lnkd.in/dqcfrWg View in LinkedIn

PHYTOPLANKTON VIRUSES ARE POORLY UNDERSTOOD and not part of the phytoplankton databanks of abundance. "Although the importance of viruses is presently recognized, it is apparent that many aspects of viral-mediated mortality of phytoplankton are still poorly understood. It is imperative that future research addresses the mechanisms that regulate virus infectivity, host resistance, genotype richness, abundance, and the fate of viruses over time and space."" " http://lnkd.in/dYKVHkM View in LinkedIn

PHYTOPLANKTON GENOME ONLY SEQUENCED IN 2013. A multinational 7 year effort yielded the genomic sequence of one important phytoplankton, in 2013. "A pan-genome has previously been seen only in some marine bacteria, organisms lacking enclosed nuclei. Ehux is a eukaryote—an organism with an enclosed nucleus, like all plants and animals. This is the first description of a pan-genome in eukaryotic marine algae."" " http://lnkd.in/dtBTw89 View in LinkedIn