RNA Virosphere in a Marine Zooplankton Community in the Subtropical Western North Pacific

• Hirai Junya

  Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, The University of Tokyo

• Urayama Syun-ichi

  Laboratory of Fungal Interaction and Molecular Biology (donated by IFO), Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba Microbiology Research Center for Sustainability (MiCS), University of Tsukuba Research Center for Bioscience and Nanoscience (CeBN), Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC)

• Takaki Yoshiro

  Super-cuttingedge Grand and Advanced Research (SUGAR) Program, JAMSTEC

• Hirai Miho

  Super-cuttingedge Grand and Advanced Research (SUGAR) Program, JAMSTEC

• Nagasaki Keizo

  Faculty of Science and Technology, Kochi University

• Nunoura Takuro

  Research Center for Bioscience and Nanoscience (CeBN), Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC)

Abstract

Zooplankton and viruses play a key role in marine ecosystems; however, their interactions have not been examined in detail. In the present study, the diversity of viruses associated with zooplankton collected using a plankton net (mesh size: 100‍ ‍μm) in the subtropical western North Pacific was investigated by fragmented and primer ligated dsRNA sequencing. We obtained 21 and 168 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) of ssRNA and dsRNA viruses, respectively, containing RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp). These OTUs presented average amino acid similarities of 43.5 and 44.0% to the RdRp genes of known viruses in ssRNA viruses and dsRNA viruses, respectively. Dominant OTUs mainly belonged to narna-like and picorna-like ssRNA viruses and chryso-like, partiti-like, picobirna-like, reo-like, and toti-like dsRNA viruses. Phylogenetic ana­lyses of the RdRp gene revealed that OTUs were phylogenetically diverse and clustered into distinct clades from known viral groups. The community structure of the same zooplankton sample was investigated using small subunit (SSU) rRNA sequences assembled from the metatranscriptome of single-stranded RNA. More than 90% of the sequence reads were derived from metazoan zooplankton; copepods comprised approximately 70% of the sequence reads. Although this ana­lysis provided no direct evidence of the host species of RNA viruses, these dominant zooplankton are expected to be associated with the RNA viruses detected in the present study. The present results indicate that zooplankton function as a reservoir of diverse RNA viruses and suggest that investigations of zooplankton viruses will provide a more detailed understanding of the role of viruses in marine ecosystems.

Journal

• Microbes and Environments

  Microbes and Environments 37 (5), n/a-, 2022

  Japanese Society of Microbial Ecology / Japanese Society of Soil Microbiology / Taiwan Society of Microbial Ecology / Japanese Society of Plant Microbe Interactions / Japanese Society for Extremophiles

Keywords

• zooplankton
• RNA virus
• diversity
• FLDS
• western North Pacific

Details

• CRID: 1390572092344553728
• NII Article ID: 130008138832
• NII Book ID: AA11551577
• DOI: 10.1264/jsme2.me21066
• ISSN: 13474405
• ISSN: 13426311
• NDL BIB ID: 032629109
• Web Site: https://ndlsearch.ndl.go.jp/books/R000000004-I032629109
• Web Site: https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jsme2/37/5/37_ME21066/_pdf
• Text Lang: en
• Data Source:
  • JaLC
  • NDL
  • Crossref
  • CiNii Articles
  • KAKEN
• Abstract License Flag: Disallowed