This much we know: When viruses infect bacteria -- a common occurrence in oceans, soils, even human guts -- the interaction results in creation of entirely new organisms called"virocells." But scientists are still learning about how this merger of microbes affects, and is affected by, their surroundings.
The finding was made under experimental conditions considered best for observing a previously unknown phenomenon -- which included high levels of the nutrient phosphate in the water. Howard-Varona and colleagues have repeated the work in a new study under low-phosphate conditions more similar to the natural world, where pockets of the ocean are starved of nutrients.
The research has potential to improve large-scale modeling of ocean microbial systems, which to date tends to lack the virocell component, said Matthew Sullivan, co-senior author of both studies and a professor of microbiology at Ohio State. In the new study, researchers found that the two infecting viruses did wield plenty of control over functions that dominated the two resulting virocells. The viruses, called phages, were selected for their very different qualities: One is very genomically similar to the host bacteria, so it focused on recycling existing resources, and the other, less similar phage had to work harder to generate resources.
"Every cell in the world needs phosphate to make DNA and energy, and so without it, there's no life, no function, no metabolism," Howard-Varona said."And what we've shown is that in these conditions, virocells have commonalities. They sense the nutrient limitation and behave more similarly than they did when they were growing in a nutrient-rich environment.
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