Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

SS14 Microbial Diversity (Disciplinary Connections)

Date: Tuesday, February 13, 2001, Time: 10:30:00 AM

Location: Mesilla

Sullivan, M, B, MIT/WHOI Joint Program in Biological Oceanography, Cambridge, USA, mbsulli@mit.edu

Waterbury, J, B, WHOI Department of Biology, Woods Hole, USA,

Chisholm, S, W, MIT Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cambridge, USA,

PROCHLOROCOCCUS-INFECTING CYANOPHAGE FROM THE BERMUDA ATLANTIC TIMES SERIES STATION

We have isolated cyanophages that infect Prochlorococcus from water samples collected at the Bermuda Atlantic Times Series station (BATS). Following a modified cyanophage isolation protocol used by Waterbury & Valois (1993) we enriched for Prochlorococcus infecting phage using serial re-infections of Prochlorococcus host cells, which displayed classic death curves in the presence of viruses. Two viral types were isolated (order Caudovirales, families Myoviridae and Podoviridae). Prochlorococcus-infecting cyanophage abundance was correlated with Prochlorococcus cell abundance in a depth profile at BATS using host strains MED4 and NATL2A. Three statistically clonal podoviruses isolated on MED4 from three different locations (one from BATS, one from another site in the Sargasso Sea and one from the Gulf Stream) indicate extreme host specificity: They did not cross infect 10 other Prochlorococcus, and 5 Synechococcus strains assayed. We are currently characterizing the podoviral clone from BATS to obtain adsorption kinetics parameters, burst size and lytic cycle estimates. ===== Waterbury, J. B. & F. Valois (1993). Resistance to co-occurring phages enables marine Synechococcus communities to coexist with cyanophage abundant in seawater. Appl. Env. Microbiol. 59(10): 3393-3399.

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Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

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