Marine virus predation by non-host organisms

Abstract

Viruses are the most abundant biological entities in marine environments, however, despite its potential ecological implications, little is known about virus removal by ambient non-host organisms. Here, we examined the effects of a variety of non-host organisms on the removal of viruses. The marine algal virus PgV-07T (infective to Phaeocystis globosa) can be discriminated from bacteriophages using flow cytometry, facilitating its use as a representative model system. Of all the non-host organisms tested, anemones, polychaete larvae, sea squirts, crabs, cockles, oysters and sponges significantly reduced viral abundance. The latter four species reduced viral abundance the most, by 90, 43, 12 and 98% over 24 h, respectively. Breadcrumb sponges instantly removed viruses at high rates (176 mL h −1 g tissue dry wt −1) which continued over an extended period of time. the variety of non-host organisms capable of reducing viral abundance highlights that viral loss by ambient organisms is an overlooked avenue of viral ecology. Moreover, our finding that temperate sponges have the huge potential for constant and effective removal of viruses from the water column demonstrates that natural viral loss has, thus far, been underestimated.

Revealing RNA virus diversity and evolution in unicellular algae transcriptomes

“…It is widely established that such similarities to holobiont virome studies should be treated with caution, as the viruses reported could in fact be infecting symbionts, eukaryotic parasites, or bacteria that are also present in these samples . Marine invertebrate organisms are also important ocean filters and virus removers 74 , again compatible with the idea that at least some of the viruses identified here may infect other marine organisms.…”

Marine biomimetics: bromotyrosines loaded chitinous skeleton as source of antibacterial agents

“…Recently, due to COVID problematic, studies on antiviral activity of poriferan secondary metabolites are in trend. The ability of marine demosponges to collect viruses in their bodies due to their water filtering activity is well recognized [ 95 , 96 ]. How sponges neutralize viruses is still unknown.…”

Single Cell Genomics Reveals Viruses Consumed by Marine Protists

“…Strong indications of virus ingestion falling on specific taxa, and notably higher abundances of viruses within Choanozoa SAGs, averaging 28 viral sequences per cell, suggests that the degree of viral loss due to protist predation would be variable and dependent upon protist community structure. A recent study demonstrated the efficient removal of planktonic viruses by marine sponges, highlighting a need to reconsider viral predation by non-host organisms even among metazoans ( Welsh et al, 2020 ).…”