The Library
Viruses inhibit CO2 fixation in the most abundant phototrophs on earth
Tools
Puxty, Richard J., Millard, Andrew D., Evans, David J. and Scanlan, David J. (2016) Viruses inhibit CO2 fixation in the most abundant phototrophs on earth. Current Biology, 26 (12). pp. 1585-1589. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2016.04.036 ISSN 0960-9822.
|
PDF
WRAP_PIIS0960982216303591.pdf - Published Version - Requires a PDF viewer. Available under License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. Download (1039Kb) | Preview |
Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2016.04.036
Abstract
Marine picocyanobacteria of the genera Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus are the most numerous photosynthetic organisms on our planet [1, 2]. With a global population size of 3.6 3 1027 [3], they are responsible for approximately 10% of global primary production [3, 4]. Viruses that infect Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus (cyanophages) can be readily isolated from ocean waters [5–7] and frequently outnumber their cyanobacterial hosts [8]. Ultimately, cyanophage-induced lysis of infected cells results in the release of fixed carbon into the dissolved organic matter pool [9]. What is less well known is the functioning of photosynthesis during the relatively long latent periods of many cyanophages [10, 11]. Remarkably, the genomes of many cyanophage isolates contain genes involved in photosynthetic electron transport (PET) [12–18] as well as central carbon metabolism [14, 15, 19, 20], suggesting that cyanophages may play an active role in photosynthesis. However, cyanophage-encoded gene products are hypothesized to maintain or even supplement PET for energy generation while sacrificing wasteful CO2 fixation during infection [17, 18, 20]. Yet this paradigm has not been rigorously tested. Here, we measured the ability of viral-infected Synechococcus cells to fix CO2 as well as maintain PET.We compared two cyanophage isolates that share different complements of PET and central carbon metabolism genes. We demonstrate cyanophage-dependent inhibition of CO2 fixation early in the infection cycle. In contrast, PET is maintained throughout infection. Our data suggest a generalized strategy among marine cyanophages to redirect photosynthesis to support phage development, which has important implications for estimates of global primary production.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Subjects: | Q Science > QR Microbiology | ||||||||
Divisions: | Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Medicine > Warwick Medical School > Biomedical Sciences Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Science > Life Sciences (2010- ) Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Medicine > Warwick Medical School > Biomedical Sciences > Microbiology & Infection Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Medicine > Warwick Medical School |
||||||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Photosynthesis -- Research, Phototropism, Photosynthetic bacteria, Cyanobacteria | ||||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Current Biology | ||||||||
Publisher: | Cell Press | ||||||||
ISSN: | 0960-9822 | ||||||||
Official Date: | 20 June 2016 | ||||||||
Dates: |
|
||||||||
Volume: | 26 | ||||||||
Number: | 12 | ||||||||
Page Range: | pp. 1585-1589 | ||||||||
DOI: | 10.1016/j.cub.2016.04.036 | ||||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Open Access (Creative Commons) | ||||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 13 June 2016 | ||||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 13 June 2016 | ||||||||
Funder: | Natural Environment Research Council (Great Britain) (NERC), University of Warwick. Institute of Advanced Study (IAS), Leverhulme Trust (LT) | ||||||||
Grant number: | NE/J02273X/1 (NERC), RPG-2014-354 (LT) |
Request changes or add full text files to a record
Repository staff actions (login required)
View Item |
Downloads
Downloads per month over past year