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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, July 2007, p. 4429-4438, Vol. 73, No. 14
0099-2240/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.00029-07
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Viral Abundance, Decay, and Diversity in the Meso- and Bathypelagic Waters of the North Atlantic

Verónica Parada,¹ Eva Sintes,¹ Hendrik M. van Aken,² Markus G. Weinbauer,³ and Gerhard J. Herndl^1*

Department of Biological Oceanography,¹ Department of Physical Oceanography, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), P.O. Box 59, 1790 AB Den Burg, Texel, The Netherlands,² Laboratoire d'Océanographie de Villefranche, Université Pierre et Marie Curie Paris VI, UMR 7093, 06234 Villefranche-sur-Mer, France³

Received 7 January 2007/ Accepted 7 May 2007

To elucidate the potential importance of deep-water viruses in controlling the meso- and bathypelagic picoplankton community, the abundance, decay rate, and diversity of the virioplankton community were determined in the meso- and bathypelagic water masses of the eastern part of the subtropical North Atlantic. Viral abundance averaged 1.4 x 10⁶ ml^–1 at around 100 m of depth and decreased only by a factor of 2 at 3,000 to 4,000 m of depth. In contrast, picoplankton abundance decreased by 1 order of magnitude to the Lower Deep Water (LDW; 3,500- to 5,000-m depth). The virus-to-picoplankton ratio increased from 9 at about 100 m of depth to 110 in the LDW. Mean viral decay rates were 3.5 x 10^–3 h^–1 between 900 m and 2,750 m and 1.1 x 10^–3 h^–1 at 4,000 m of depth, corresponding to viral turnover times of 11 and 39 days, respectively. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis fingerprints obtained from the viral community between 2,400 m and 4,000 m of depth revealed a maximum of only four bands from 4,000 m of depth. Based on the high viral abundance and the low picoplankton production determined via leucine incorporation, we conclude that the viral production calculated from the viral decay is insufficient to maintain the high viral abundance in the deep North Atlantic. Rather, we propose that substantial allochthonous viral input or lysogenic or pseudolysogenic production is required to maintain the high viral abundance detected in the meso- and bathypelagic North Atlantic. Consequently, deep-water prokaryotes are apparently far less controlled in their abundance and taxon richness by lytic prokaryotic phages than the high viral abundance and the virus-to-picoplankton ratio would suggest.

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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Biological Oceanography, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), P.O. Box 59, 1790 AB Den Burg, Texel, The Netherlands. Phone: 31-(0)222-369-507. Fax: 31-(0)222-319-674. E-mail: herndl{at}nioz.nl

Published ahead of print on 11 May 2007.

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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, July 2007, p. 4429-4438, Vol. 73, No. 14
0099-2240/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.00029-07
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

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