Skip to main content
PMC home page
Applied and Environmental Microbiology logoLink to Applied and Environmental Microbiology
. 1995 Oct;61(10):3623–3627. doi: 10.1128/aem.61.10.3623-3627.1995

Fluorescently Labeled Virus Probes Show that Natural Virus Populations Can Control the Structure of Marine Microbial Communities

K P Hennes, C A Suttle, A M Chan
PMCID: PMC1388708  PMID: 16535146

Abstract

Fluorescently stained viruses were used as probes to label, identify, and enumerate specific strains of bacteria and cyanobacteria in mixed microbial assemblages. Several marine virus isolates were fluorescently stained with YOYO-1 or POPO-1 (Molecular Probes, Inc.) and added to seawater samples that contained natural microbial communities. Cells to which the stained viruses adsorbed were easily distinguished from nonhost cells; typically, there was undetectable binding of stained viruses to natural microbial assemblages containing >10(sup6) bacteria ml(sup-1) but to which host cells were not added. Host cells that were added to natural seawater were quantified with 99% (plusmn) 2% (mean (plusmn) range) efficiency with fluorescently labeled virus probes (FLVPs). A marine bacterial isolate (strain PWH3a), tentatively identified as Vibrio natriegens, was introduced into natural microbial communities that were either supplemented with nutrients or untreated, and changes in the abundance of the isolate were monitored with FLVPs. Simultaneously, the concentrations of viruses that infected strain PWH3a were monitored by plaque assay. Following the addition of PWH3a, the concentration of viruses infecting this strain increased from undetectable levels (<1 ml(sup-1)) to 2.9 x 10(sup7) and 8.3 x 10(sup8) ml(sup-1) for the untreated and nutrient-enriched samples, respectively. The increase in viruses was associated with a collapse in populations of strain PWH3a from ca. 30 to 2% and 43 to 0.01% of the microbial communities in untreated and nutrient-enriched samples, respectively. These results clearly demonstrate that FLVPs can be used to identify and quantify specific groups of bacteria in mixed microbial communities. The data show as well that viruses which are present at low abundances in natural aquatic viral communities can control microbial community structure.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (490.4 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Amann R. I., Krumholz L., Stahl D. A. Fluorescent-oligonucleotide probing of whole cells for determinative, phylogenetic, and environmental studies in microbiology. J Bacteriol. 1990 Feb;172(2):762–770. doi: 10.1128/jb.172.2.762-770.1990. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bratbak G., Heldal M., Norland S., Thingstad T. F. Viruses as partners in spring bloom microbial trophodynamics. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1990 May;56(5):1400–1405. doi: 10.1128/aem.56.5.1400-1405.1990. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. CHERRY W. B., DAVIS B. R., EDWARDS P. R., HOGAN R. B. A simple procedure for the identification of the genus Salmonella by means of a specific bacteriophage. J Lab Clin Med. 1954 Jul;44(1):51–55. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Campbell L., Carpenter E. J., Iacono V. J. Identification and enumeration of marine chroococcoid cyanobacteria by immunofluorescence. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1983 Sep;46(3):553–559. doi: 10.1128/aem.46.3.553-559.1983. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. DeLong E. F., Wickham G. S., Pace N. R. Phylogenetic stains: ribosomal RNA-based probes for the identification of single cells. Science. 1989 Mar 10;243(4896):1360–1363. doi: 10.1126/science.2466341. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Hennes K. P., Simon M. Significance of bacteriophages for controlling bacterioplankton growth in a mesotrophic lake. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1995 Jan;61(1):333–340. doi: 10.1128/aem.61.1.333-340.1995. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Hirons G. T., Fawcett J. J., Crissman H. A. TOTO and YOYO: new very bright fluorochromes for DNA content analyses by flow cytometry. Cytometry. 1994 Feb 1;15(2):129–140. doi: 10.1002/cyto.990150206. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Paul J. H., Jiang S. C., Rose J. B. Concentration of viruses and dissolved DNA from aquatic environments by vortex flow filtration. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1991 Aug;57(8):2197–2204. doi: 10.1128/aem.57.8.2197-2204.1991. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Suttle C. A., Chan A. M. Dynamics and Distribution of Cyanophages and Their Effect on Marine Synechococcus spp. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1994 Sep;60(9):3167–3174. doi: 10.1128/aem.60.9.3167-3174.1994. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Suttle C. A., Chen F. Mechanisms and rates of decay of marine viruses in seawater. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1992 Nov;58(11):3721–3729. doi: 10.1128/aem.58.11.3721-3729.1992. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Ward B. B., Carlucci A. F. Marine ammonia- and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria: serological diversity determined by immunofluorescence in culture and in the environment. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1985 Aug;50(2):194–201. doi: 10.1128/aem.50.2.194-201.1985. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Waterbury J. B., Valois F. W. Resistance to co-occurring phages enables marine synechococcus communities to coexist with cyanophages abundant in seawater. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1993 Oct;59(10):3393–3399. doi: 10.1128/aem.59.10.3393-3399.1993. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Weinbauer M. G., Fuks D., Peduzzi P. Distribution of Viruses and Dissolved DNA along a Coastal Trophic Gradient in the Northern Adriatic Sea. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1993 Dec;59(12):4074–4082. doi: 10.1128/aem.59.12.4074-4082.1993. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Welkos S., Schreiber M., Baer H. Identification of Salmonella with the O-1 bacteriophage. Appl Microbiol. 1974 Oct;28(4):618–622. doi: 10.1128/am.28.4.618-622.1974. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Applied and Environmental Microbiology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES