Marine Viruses that infect Eukaryotic Microalgae

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  • KIMURA Kei
    Institute of Lowland and Marine Research, Saga University
  • TOMARU Yuji
    National Research Institute of Fisheries and Environment of Inland Sea, Fisheries Research Agency

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Other Title
  • 海洋真核性微細藻類ウイルスの現状と生態学的研究
  • カイヨウ シンカクセイ ビサイ ソウルイ ウイルス ノ ゲンジョウ ト セイタイガクテキ ケンキュウ

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Abstract

Marine microalgae, in general, explain large amount of the primary productions on the planet. Their huge biomass through photosynthetic activities is significant to understand the global geochemical cycles. Many researchers are, therefore, focused on studies of marine microalgae, i.e. phytoplankton. Since the first report of high abundance of viruses in the sea at late 1980's, the marine viruses have recognized as an important decreasing factor of its host populations. They seem to be composed of diverse viruses infectious to different organism groups; most of them are considered to be phages infectious to prokaryotes, and viruses infecting microalgae might be ranked in second level. Over the last quarter of a century, the knowledge on marine microalgal viruses has been accumulated in many aspects. Until today, ca. 40 species of marine microalgal viruses have been discovered, including dsDNA, ssDNA, dsRNA and ssRNA viruses. Their features are unique and comprise new ideas and discoveries, indicating that the marine microalgal virus research is still an intriguing unexplored field. In this review, we summarize their basic biology and ecology, and discuss how and what we should research in this area for further progress.

Journal

  • Uirusu

    Uirusu 65 (1), 37-46, 2015

    The Japanese Society for Virology

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