Interactive Effects of Viral and Bacterial Production on Marine Bacterial Diversity
Journal
PLoS ONE
Journal Volume
8
Journal Issue
11
Pages
e76800
Date Issued
2013-11
Author(s)
Abstract
A general model of species diversity predicts that the latter is maximized when productivity and disturbance are balanced. Based on this model, we hypothesized that the response of bacterial diversity to the ratio of viral to bacterial production (VP/BP) would be dome-shaped. In order to test this hypothesis, we obtained data on changes in bacterial communities (determined by terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism of 16S rRNA gene) along a wide VP/BP gradient (more than two orders of magnitude), using seawater incubations from NW Mediterranean surface waters, i.e., control and treatments with additions of phosphate, viruses, or both. In December, one dominant Operational Taxonomic Unit accounted for the major fraction of total amplified DNA in the phosphate addition treatment (75±20%, ± S.D.), but its contribution was low in the phosphate and virus addition treatment (23±19%), indicating that viruses prevented the prevalence of taxa that were competitively superior in phosphate-replete conditions. In contrast, in February, the single taxon predominance in the community was held in the phosphate addition treatment even with addition of viruses. We observed statistically robust dome-shaped response patterns of bacterial diversity to VP/BP, with significantly high bacterial diversity at intermediate VP/BP. This was consistent with our model-based hypothesis, indicating that bacterial production and viral-induced mortality interactively affect bacterial diversity in seawater. © 2013 Motegi et al.
SDGs
Other Subjects
DNA; phosphate; RNA 16S; sea water; 16S rRNA gene; article; bacterial growth; controlled study; gene amplification; incubation time; marine environment; Mediterranean Sea; microbial community; microbial diversity; mortality; nonhuman; polymerase chain reaction; restriction fragment length polymorphism; seasonal variation; virogenesis; Aquatic Organisms; Bacteria; Biodiversity; Seawater; Viruses; Water Microbiology
Type
journal article