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-led study.
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-led study.
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.”
Read more at: Rutgers University
This is 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. (Photo Credit: Jeffrey Krause and Sydney Acton)
