Despite the fact that marine viruses have been increasingly studied in the last decade, there is little information on viral abundance and distribution on a global scale. In this study, we report on a global-scale survey covering the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans on viral distribution using flow cytometry. Viruses were stained with the SYBR Green I, which targets only dsDNA viruses. The average viral abundance was 1.10±0.73×107 ml−1 in global surface oceans and decreased from the areas with high chlorophyll concentration (on average, 1.47±0.78×107 ml−1) to the oligotrophic subtropical gyres (on average, 6.34±2.18×106 ml−1). On a large-spatial-scale, viruses displayed significant relationships with both heterotrophic and autotrophic picoplankton abundance, suggesting that viral distribution is dependent on their host cell abundance. Our study provided a basin scale pattern of marine viral distributions and their relationship with major host cells, indicating that viruses play a significant role in the global marine ecosystem.
State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China;Institute of Marine Microbes and Ecospheres, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China;Qingdao Institute of BioEnergy and BioProcess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, China;State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China;Institute of Marine Microbes and Ecospheres, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China;State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China;Institute of Marine Microbes and Ecospheres, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China;State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China;Institute of Marine Microbes and Ecospheres, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China;State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China;Institute of Marine Microbes and Ecospheres, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China;State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China;Institute of Marine Microbes and Ecospheres, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
Recommended Citation:
Yantao Liang,Li Li,Tingwei Luo,et al. Horizontal and Vertical Distribution of Marine Virioplankton: A Basin Scale Investigation Based on a Global Cruise[J]. PLOS ONE,2014-01-01,9(11)