Rutgers-led team confirms important role for viruses that infect algae

Anthony Vecchione//July 18, 2019//

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Scientists have confirmed that viruses can kill marine algae called diatoms and that diatom die-offs near the ocean surface may provide nutrients and organic matter for recycling by other algae, according to a Rutgers University-led study.

A diatom cell, or marine algae, from the Gulf of Mexico. It is stained with a fluorescent dye to show newly formed cell walls (blue) and the red is fluorescence from chlorophyll. The white bar is a 10-micron scale bar. — A diatom cell from the Gulf of Mexico. It is stained with a fluorescent dye to show newly formed cell walls (blue) and the red is fluorescence from chlorophyll. The white bar is a 10-micron scale bar. – JEFFREY KRAUSE AND SYDNEY ACTION. RUTGERS

The study in the journal Nature Microbiology also revealed that environmental conditions can accelerate diatom mortality from viral infection, which is important for understanding how diatoms influence carbon cycling and respond to changes in the oceans, including warming waters from climate change.

Diatoms, which are single-celled algae that generate about 20 percent of the Earth’s oxygen, help store carbon dioxide, a key greenhouse gas, in the oceans.

“To our knowledge, this is the first time different stages of infection have been diagnosed in natural diatom populations and suggests that diatom populations may be terminated by viruses,” said senior author Kim Thamatrakoln, associate research professor in the Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences at Rutgers University-New Brunswick.

“Our study showed that when silicon levels in the ocean are low, diatoms can be more rapidly infected and killed by viruses and are then more likely to release their nutrients and other matter in the surface ocean instead of sinking,” said Thamatrakoln.

Co-authors include Rutgers undergraduate student William Biggs; Professor Kay Bidle in the Rutgers Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences; and scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the University of California and University of South Alabama.