From cultures to communities – Virus-mediated functionality changes among aquatic bacteria

Through infection and lysis, aquatic viruses greatly influence microbial communities, with cascading effects on biogeochemical fluxes.

Still, overarching questions regarding how viruses affect bacterial functionality and diversity remain largely unanswered.

The main objective of this project is to identify how viruses impact the metabolic potential of their hosts, both through host reprogramming, expression of viral metabolic genes, and host-community diversification, affecting aquatic nutrient cycling.

I will use isolation and ‘omics techniques in combination with stable isotope probing and metabolic fingerprinting to identify and quantify the importance of viruses on several levels of organization, ranging from cells to communities.

This includes i) model-system transcriptomics and resistance experiment, ii) temporal studies using isolation and ‘omics investigations at a long-term sampling site in the Baltic Proper, and iii) mesocosm experiments to study viral gene expression regulation on a community scale and viral impact on metabolic pathways driven by host community diversification.

Thus, this project will provide fundamental information regarding viral regulation of bacterial metabolism, which has cascading effects for aquatic carbon and nutrients cycles.

Ultimately, this project will increase our understanding of viral importance for global biogeochemical cycles, particularly important in our changing world.