ArticleNature microbiology2022
Viruses affect picocyanobacterial abundance and biogeography in the North Pacific Ocean.
Article in Nature microbiology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 37 papers.
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Who cites it
37 citing papers in PubMed, 68 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Inferring single-cell heterogeneity of bacteriophage lysis-associated life-history traits from population-scale dynamics.Science advances · 2026Article
- Quantification of the coupled dynamics of marine microbes and reactive oxygen species in laboratory batch culture experiments.Microbiology spectrum · 2026Article
- Coexistence of Photosynthetic Marine Microorganisms, Viruses and Grazers: Towards Integration in Ocean Ecosystem Models.Environmental microbiology · 2026Article
- Picophytoplankton implicated in productivity and biogeochemistry in the North Pacific Transition Zone.mSystems · 2026Article
- Mapping of the viral shunt across widespread coccolithophore blooms using metabolic biomarkers.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Coexisting salps exhibit distinct feeding selectivity on microorganisms in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre.Research square · 2026Article
- Phage infection fronts trigger early sporulation and viral entrapment in bacterial populations.The ISME journal · 2026Article
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- Mapping the transcriptional landscape of algal resistance to viral infection reveals a core expression program.The New phytologist · 2025Article
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- Trait-space patterning is dictated by the tempo and mode of mutation.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Ecosystem relocation on Snowball Earth: Polar-alpine ancestry of the extant surface biosphere?Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Adaptive loss of tRNA gene expression leads to phage resistance in a marine Synechococcus cyanobacterium.Nature microbiology · 2025Article
- Article
- Cold Surface Waters of the Sub-Antarctic Pacific Ocean Support High Cyanophage Abundances and Infection Levels.Environmental microbiology · 2025Article
- Metabolites from intact phage-infected Synechococcus chemotactically attract heterotrophic marine bacteria.Nature microbiology · 2024Article
- Article
- Time of day of infection shapes development of a eukaryotic algal-Nucleocytoviricota virocell.FEMS microbiology ecology · 2024Article
- Profiling the interplay and coevolution ofMicrobiology spectrum · 2024Article
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Authors and funding
15 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The photosynthetic picocyanobacteria Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus are models for dissecting how ecological niches are defined by environmental conditions, but how interactions with bacteriophages affect picocyanobacterial biogeography in open ocean biomes has rarely been assessed. We applied single-virus and single-cell infection approaches to quantify cyanophage abundance and infected picocyanobacteria in 87 surface water samples from five transects that traversed approximately 2,200 km in the North Pacific Ocean on three cruises, with a duration of 2-4 weeks, between 2015 and 2017. We detected a 550-km-wide hotspot of cyanophages and virus-infected picocyanobacteria in the transition zone between the North Pacific Subtropical and Subpolar gyres that was present in each transect. Notably, the hotspot occurred at a consistent temperature and displayed distinct cyanophage-lineage composition on all transects. On two of these transects, the levels of infection in the hotspot were estimated to be sufficient to substantially limit the geographical range of Prochlorococcus. Coincident with the detection of high levels of virally infected picocyanobacteria, we measured an increase of 10-100-fold in the Synechococcus populations in samples that are usually dominated by Prochlorococcus. We developed a multiple regression model of cyanophages, temperature and chlorophyll concentrations that inferred that the hotspot extended across the North Pacific Ocean, creating a biological boundary between gyres, with the potential to release organic matter comparable to that of the sevenfold-larger North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. Our results highlight the probable impact of viruses on large-scale phytoplankton biogeography and biogeochemistry in distinct regions of the oceans.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.