Differing assemblage composition and dynamics in T4‐like myophages of two neighbouring sub‐alpine lakes

Abstract

1. Bacteriophages play an important role in plankton population dynamics and biogeochemical cycling, but their community dynamics and diversity are still poorly known, especially in fresh waters. 2. We conducted a 1-year investigation of the T4-like bacteriophages in the surface waters of two Western European peri-alpine lakes (lakes Annecy and Bourget), using fingerprinting and cloningsequencing approaches targeting the major capsid protein g23 gene. 3. Our results suggest that T4-like bacteriophages are diverse (we found several new sequences) and differed substantially between the two lakes. Further, these phages displayed seasonal patterns with marked shifts in community composition. 4. Examining the dynamics of some individual constituents (e.g. DGGE bands), we found that (i) the majority of these myoviruses were rare (mean relative abundance <1%) and only a few were abundant (mean relative abundance >5%); (ii) the dominance of the most abundant DGGE bands changed throughout the year and their dynamics were very different between the two lakes; (iii) only a few bands (e.g. <20%) were detectable throughout the year and their proportion was higher in the oligomesotrophic Lake Bourget. 5. Our results suggest a highly dynamic T4-like myoviral assemblage. T4-like-viruses seem to conform to a standard model of community organisation and a common type of species abundance curve, with mainly rare organisms that occasionally may become abundant (termed a 'seed bank' for virus assemblages).

Structure and diversity of ssDNA Microviridae viruses in two peri-alpine lakes (Annecy and Bourget, France)

“…T4-like myoviruses; [57]), we found in Microviridae a higher relative abundance when a band bloomed (up to 89.5%; Fig. S2, Fig.…”

Phylogenetic Diversity of T4-Type Phages in Sediments from the Subtropical Pearl River Estuary

“…The three most abundant OTUs of Site A (OTU PA-25, 12 clones; PA-143, 8 clones, and PA-160, 6 clones, Supplementary Table 4 ) were clustered into paddy soil branches, and had amino acid similarity of between 67 and 78% with g23 sequences from paddy soil of Japan and north-east China ( Fujii et al, 2008 ; Liu et al, 2012 ). Other abundant OTUs, namely PA-149 (six clones), PA-151 (four clones), and PA-176 (three clones), were associated with freshwater lake branches and shared between 75 and 88% amino acid similarity with the sequences from Annecy Lake (France) and Kotokel Lake (Russia) ( Butina et al, 2013 ; Zhong and Jacquet, 2014 ). Similar g23 sequences detected from geographically widespread, distinct and disconnected soil and lake environments suggested that these T4-type phages may be distributed globally.…”

Spatiotemporal Shift of T4-Like Phage Community Structure in the Three Largest Estuaries of China

“…This finding was consistent with the results of previous studies in other aquatic environments. For example, seasonally recurring patterns in viral communities were reported in the Chesapeake Bay ( 61 ), Red Sea ( 62 ), Sargasso Sea ( 63 ), and freshwater environments ( 64 , 65 ). The covariation of the abundance and the genetic diversity of different host-virus pairs (e.g., Synechococcus and cyanophages as well as Roseobacteria and roseophages) in seasonal transitions have been previously observed in different environments (e.g., the Chesapeake Estuary) ( 66 – 68 ).…”