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The fate and biogeochemical cycling of viral elements

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 12, pages 850–851 (2014)Cite this article

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In a recent Analysis article (The elemental composition of virus particles: implications for marine biogeochemical cycles. Nature Rev. Microbiol. 12, 519–528 (2014))1, Jover et al. highlight the generally overlooked potential biogeochemical importance of the elements that are bound in virus particles. Here, we wish to discuss the fate of marine virioplankton (that is, free virus particles in the water column), which further extends our knowledge of the biogeochemical cycling of the elements that are present in viral particles in the ocean.

UV irradiation (especially UV-B irradiation) has been considered to be one of the main causative factors responsible for the presence of defective viruses in surface marine environments5,6. An average loss of viral infectivity of 0.2 per hour has been observed under full sunlight for a diverse range of marine virus isolates4. Although solar radiation mainly decreases viral infectivity, extracellular enzymes produced by bacterioplankton and other microorganisms degrade viral particles, and the viral components therein (mainly protein and nucleic acid) are released into the marine dissolved organic matter (DOM) pool and can be utilized by bacterioplankton and cycled within the microbial loop7 (Fig. 1). It is evident that direct or indirect grazing by protists (for example, phagotrophic flagellates) contributes to the removal of viruses8,9, which acts as top-down control for virioplankton and transfers the viral component to higher trophic levels of the marine food web (Fig. 1). The effects of grazing on the removal of viral particles are more significant in eutrophic than in oligotrophic waters and depend on the abundance of both viruses and protists8,9. The viral components and elements that are transferred into the microbial loop and food web are mainly cycled locally. However, viral particles will also be absorbed onto particles (for example, particular organic matter or transparent exopolymeric particles) and then vertically settle down to the deep ocean2,3,4 (Fig. 1) or are transported laterally with the water mass. This accounts for the removal of a substantial proportion (up to 34% in the coastal Mediterranean Sea) of free-living viral particles from the water column6,9 and should drive a large amount of viral materials away from local biogeochemical cycling.

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Figure 1: Schematic illustration of the fate of viral particles in the upper ocean.

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Acknowledgements

Comments from Feng Chen were appreciated. Financial support is provided by the 973 program (2013CB955700) and NSFC (41376132.) to R.Z.

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  1. Rui Zhang, Wei Wei and Lanlan Cai are at the State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science and the Institute of Marine Microbes and Ecospheres, Xiamen University (Xiang'an), Xiamen 361102, China.,

    Rui Zhang, Wei Wei & Lanlan Cai

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Correspondence to Rui Zhang.

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Zhang, R., Wei, W. & Cai, L. The fate and biogeochemical cycling of viral elements. Nat Rev Microbiol 12, 850–851 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro3384

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