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Marine viruses are defined by their habitat as viruses that are found in marine environments, that is, in the saltwater of seas or oceans or the brackish water of coastal estuaries. Viruses are small infectious agents that can only replicate inside the living cells of a host organism , because they need the replication machinery of the host to ...
Most marine viruses are bacteriophages, which are harmless to plants and animals, but are essential to the regulation of saltwater and freshwater ecosystems. [14] They infect and destroy bacteria in aquatic microbial communities, and are the most important mechanism of recycling carbon in the marine environment.
Marine life, sea life or ocean life is the collective ecological communities that encompass all aquatic animals, plants, algae, fungi, protists, single-celled microorganisms and associated viruses living in the saline water of marine habitats, either the sea water of marginal seas and oceans, or the brackish water of coastal wetlands, lagoons ...
Phycodnaviridae is a family of large (100–560 kb) double-stranded DNA viruses that infect marine or freshwater eukaryotic algae. Viruses within this family have a similar morphology, with an icosahedral capsid (polyhedron with 20 faces). As of 2014, there were 33 species in this family, divided among 6 genera.
Viruses are the most abundant biological entity in the water column of the world's oceans, and the second largest component of biomass after prokaryotes, [4] where up to 9x10 8 virions per millilitre have been found in microbial mats at the surface, [5] and up to 70% of marine bacteria may be infected by bacteriophages. [6]
Viruses are now considered to play key roles in marine ecosystems by controlling microbial community dynamics, host metabolic status, and biogeochemical cycling via lysis of hosts. [41] [42] [44] [45] A giant marine virus CroV infects and causes the death by lysis of the marine zooflagellate Cafeteria roenbergensis. [46]
Viral shunt was first described in 1999 by Steven W. Wilhelm and Curtis A. Suttle. [6] Their original paper has since been cited over 1000 times. [7] For his contributions to understanding of viral roles in marine ecosystems, Suttle has received numerous awards, including being named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, receiving the A.G. Huntsman Award for Excellence in Marine Science ...
Studies have also suggested that resident bacteria, archaea, and fungi additionally contribute to nutrient and organic matter cycling within the coral, with viruses also possibly playing a role in structuring the composition of these members, thus providing one of the first glimpses at a multi-domain marine animal symbiosis. [70]