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Occurrence and diversity of viruses associated with cyanobacterial communities in a Brazilian freshwater reservoir

  • Environmental Microbiology - Research Paper
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Abstract

As part of the phytoplankton of marine and freshwater environments around the world, cyanobacteria interact with viruses (cyanophages) that affect their abundance and diversity. Investigations focusing on cyanophages co-occurring with freshwater cyanobacteria are scarce, particularly in Brazil. The aim of this study was to assess the diversity of cyanophages associated with a Microcystis-dominated cyanobacterial bloom in a tropical reservoir. Samples were processed as viral fractions of water and cellular fractions, and temporal fluctuations in the abundance of Ma-LMM01-type cyanophages and their Microcystis hosts were determined by qPCR. We applied shotgun metagenomics to obtain a wider characterization of the cyanophage community. During the study period, Microcystis gene copies were quantified in all cellular fractions, and the copy number of the Ma-LMM01 phage gene tended to increase with host abundance. Metagenomic analysis demonstrated that Caudovirales was the major viral order associated with the cyanophage families Myoviridae (34–88%), Podoviridae (3–42%), and Siphoviridae (6–23%). The metagenomic analysis results confirmed the presence of Microcystis cyanophages in both viral and cellular fractions and demonstrated a high relative abundance of picocyanobacteria-related viruses and Prochlorococcus (36–52%) and Synechococcus (37–50%) phages. For other main cyanobacterial genera, no related cyanophages were identified, which was probably due to the scarce representation of cyanophage sequences in databanks. Thus, the studied reservoir hosted a diverse cyanophage community with a remarkable contribution of phages related to picoplanktonic cyanobacteria. These results provide insights that motivate future sequencing efforts to assess cyanophage diversity and recover complete genomes.

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Data availability

Sequences generated during the current study are available in the NCBI short read archive under BioProject PRJNA679033.

Code availability

Not applicable.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Thamires de Oliveira Lourenço for performing qPCR experiments and Eduardo Camacho for technical support.

Funding

This work was supported by the Carlos Chagas Filho Research Support Foundation of Rio de Janeiro State (projects FAPERJ 19/2011, FAPERJ 32/2013, and E-26/010.001638/2014). LOS and IAG were supported by fellowships from the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq).

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  1. Carlos Chagas Filho Biophysics Institute, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Av. Carlos Chagas Filho 373, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 21949-902, Brazil

    Leandro de Oliveira Santos, Iamê Alves Guedes, Sandra Maria Feliciano de Oliveira e Azevedo & Ana Beatriz Furlanetto Pacheco

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  1. Leandro de Oliveira Santos
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All authors contributed to the study conception, design, or development. LOS analyzed bioinformatics data; IAG designed the study and collected samples; SMFOA conceived the study, analyzed data, and revised it critically; ABFP conceived and designed the study, performed research, analyzed data, and wrote the paper. We confirm that the manuscript has been read and approved by all named authors. We confirm that the order of authors listed in the manuscript has been approved by all named authors.

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Correspondence to Ana Beatriz Furlanetto Pacheco.

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de Oliveira Santos, L., Guedes, I.A., Azevedo, S.M.F.d. et al. Occurrence and diversity of viruses associated with cyanobacterial communities in a Brazilian freshwater reservoir. Braz J Microbiol 52, 773–785 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42770-021-00473-8

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