Diel variation of viral production in a coastal subtropical marine system
Journal
Diversity
Journal Volume
13
Journal Issue
9
Date Issued
2021
Author(s)
Abstract
Viral production (VP) and bacterial mortality by viral lysis critically influence the production and mortality of aquatic bacteria. Although bacterial production, mortality by viral lysis, and viral density have been found to exhibit diel variations, the diel change in viral production has rarely been investigated. In this study, we conducted two diel dilution incubation experiments in a semi-enclosed, nutrient-rich coastal region in northeastern Taiwan to estimate the diel viral production and the mortality by viral lysis. We also compared two methods (linear regression between viral density and time versus arithmetic mean of VP during incubation) of estimating viral production. We found that viral production estimated by linear regression and bacterial mortality by viral lysis were higher during the daytime than during the nighttime. A possible explanation for the high viral production at daytime is that the bacterial community was composed of cell types with higher burst sizes at daytime. We further argued that the classical linear regression method can be used only when viral density significantly linearly increases with time, which does not always occur in dilution incubations. This study offered observations of diel variation in viral dynamics and discussed the methods estimating viral production in a marine environment. ? 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
Subjects
Diel cycle
Dilution incubation
Flow cytometry
Viral lysis
Viral production
bacterium
biological production
cell
coastal zone
diel variation
experimental study
flow cytometry
incubation
marine environment
microbial community
mortality
nutrient dynamics
regression analysis
subtropical region
virus
Bacteria (microorganisms)
Type
journal article