Newly isolated Nodularia phage influences cyanobacterial community dynamics.

S E Coloma, A Dienstbier, D H Bamford, K Sivonen, E Roine, T Hiltunen

Environmental microbiology 2017 Jan

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Cyanophages, that is, viruses infecting cyanobacteria, are a key component driving cyanobacterial community dynamics both ecologically and evolutionarily. In addition to reducing biomass and influencing the genetic diversity of their host populations, they can also have a wider community-level impact due to the release of nutrients by phage-induced cell lysis. In this study, we isolated and characterized a new cyanophage, a siphophage designated as vB_NpeS-2AV2, capable of infecting the filamentous nitrogen fixing cyanobacterium Nodularia sp. AV2 with a lytic cycle between 12 and 18 hours. The role of the phage in the ecology of its host Nodularia and competitor Synechococcus was investigated in a set of microcosm experiments. Initially, phage-induced cell lysis decreased the number of Nodularia cells in the cultures. However, around 18%-27% of the population was resistant against the phage infection. Nitrogen was released from the Nodularia cells as a consequence of phage activity, resulting in a seven-fold increase in Synechococcus cell density. In conclusion, the presence of the cyanophage vB_NpeS-2AV2 altered the ecological dynamics in the cyanobacterial community and induced evolutionary changes in the Nodularia population, causing the evolution from a population dominated by susceptible cells to a population dominated by resistant ones. © 2016 Society for Applied Microbiology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Citation

S E Coloma, A Dienstbier, D H Bamford, K Sivonen, E Roine, T Hiltunen. Newly isolated Nodularia phage influences cyanobacterial community dynamics. Environmental microbiology. 2017 Jan;19(1):273-286