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Effect of Viral Infection on the Functioning and Lysis of Black Sea Microalgae Tetraselmis viridis (Chlorophyta) and Phaeodactylum tricornutum (Bacillariophyta)

  • PHYTOPLANKTON, PHYTOBENTHOS, AND PHYTOPERIPHYTON
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Abstract

Experimental studies have been performed on Tetraselmis viridis (Rouchijajnen) R.E. Norris, Hori & Chihara (Chlorophyta) and Phaeodactylum tricornutum Bohlin (Bacillariophyta) cultures of Black Sea microalgae using TsV-S1 and PtV-S18 algal virus strains isolated from the Black Sea ecosystem. The study assesses the effects of light intensity and the initial abundance of microalgae cells on the onset of their infection by viruses and the decline in their abundance. As early as on the second or third day, the cells changed their shape and increased in volume in the cultures infected by viruses. At this time, a decrease was observed in chlorophyll a red autofluorescence, variable fluorescence per cell, and photochemical efficiency of photosystem 2. In the studied cultures, a reduction in cell abundance due to viral lysis was noted 1 to 2 days later. The threshold cell abundance at which this process was observed was independent of light conditions and amounted to 3 × 105 cells/mL for T. viridis and 18 × 105 cells/mL for Ph. tricornutum. The complete lysis of algae cells was detected by the end of the fourth to sixth day. In the dark, the effect of viruses on microalgae was insignificant.

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Funding

This work was supported as part of the work procured by the government from Federal Research Center Kovalevskii Institute for Biology of Southern Seas of the Russian Academy of Sciences, project no. AAAA-A18-118021490093-4 “Functional, Metabolic, and Toxicological Aspects of Occurrence of Hydrobionts and Their Populations in Biotopes with Different Physicochemical Regimes,” as well government-funded project no. 0012–2019–0003 “Development of the New Tools and Measuring Information Technologies for Natural Water Research.”

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kovalevskii Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas, Russian Academy of Sciences, Sevastopol, Russia

    L. V. Stelmakh

  2. Institute of Nature and Technical Systems, Russian Academy of Sciences, Sevastopol, Russia

    O. A. Stepanova

Authors
  1. L. V. Stelmakh
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  2. O. A. Stepanova
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Correspondence to L. V. Stelmakh.

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Conflict of interests. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Statement on the welfare of animals. All applicable international, national, and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed.

Additional information

Translated by E. Kuznetsova

Abbreviation: F0/cell – the initial level of variable fluorescence; Fv/Fm – photochemical efficiency of photosystem 2.

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Stelmakh, L.V., Stepanova, O.A. Effect of Viral Infection on the Functioning and Lysis of Black Sea Microalgae Tetraselmis viridis (Chlorophyta) and Phaeodactylum tricornutum (Bacillariophyta). Inland Water Biol 13, 417–424 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1995082920020303

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1995082920020303

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