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Heightened awareness of global environmental changes has emphasized the need to understand more fully nutrient and energy cycling in the World's oceans. There is strong evidence that viruses play an important role in the dynamics of organisms and nutrients in marine ecosystems. Current research in my laboratory involves: 1) determining the effect that viruses have on the mortality of bacteria and phytoplankton; 2) isolating and characterizing novel viral pathogens from the marine environment; 3) developing molecular approaches for enumeration and identification of viral pathogens; 4) determining the temporal and spatial distribution of specific viruses; 5) identifying the rates of and the mechanisms responsible for viral decay in the marine environment. A recent project has examined the physiological ecology and molecular systematics of a bloom-forming alga. We have isolated viruses that infect a number of important groups of marine organisms including bacteria, cyanobacteria, microalgae and protozoan grazers. Recently, we designed PCR primers that are specific for the DNA polymerase genes of viruses that infect microalgae. These primers were used to amplify DNA from a number of different viruses which infect marine phytoplankton, as well as from natural communities of marine viruses. Analysis of the sequences indicated that these viruses belong to a single family, and are most closely related to herpes viruses. These viruses can be very abundant and occur in seawater at concentrations as high as 105 ml-1. Viruses that infect cyanobacteria occur at even higher concentrations and 106 infectious units ml-1 can be found in the coastal waters of Texas, which infect a single strain of Synechococcus. Our research will continue to investigate the role of viruses in marine ecosystems. |
DR. CURTIS A. SUTTLE Departments of Earth & Ocean Sciences, Botany, and Microbiology & Immunology University of British Columbia Mailing Address:
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