Viral Diversity and Mortality of Sea-Ice Bacteria and Algae in the Arctic Ocean

该项目旨在扩大对病毒多样性以及北冰洋病毒攻击造成的细菌和藻类死亡率的幅度和可变性的调查。 PI建议扩展这些研究，重点是海冰微生物群落与底层海水的比较。 融化的海冰样品的收集、固定和浓缩将通过美国海军潜艇的部署在采样点完成。 后续分析将在实验室进行。 海冰和海水中浮游植物和细菌的病毒总数和病毒感染频率将通过固定样品的电子显微镜来确定。 为了检查自然群落的多样性，将对病毒浓缩物进行纯化，并进行脉冲场凝胶电泳，以根据基因组大小分离病毒DNA。 根据不同条带的数量、位置和染色强度，PI将估计每份样本中病毒的多样性、基因组大小和丰度。 通过与其他研究人员的协调，PI将把病毒丰度、病毒感染频率和病毒群落多样性与水文和生物变量联系起来，以确定那些可能对调节北极海冰和海水中的病毒传播很重要的变量。

This project is designed to extend investigations of viral diversity and the magnitude and variability of bacterial and algal mortality due to viral attack in the Arctic Ocean. The PI proposes to extend these studies with emphasis on sea ice microbial communities for comparison with the underlying sea water. Collection, fixation, and concentration of melted sea ice samples will be accomplished at sampling sites by deployment from US Navy submarine. Subsequent analyses will be conducted in the laboratory. Total counts of viruses and the frequency of viral infection in phytoplankton and bacteria in sea ice and seawater will be determined by electron microscopy on fixed samples. To examine natural community diversity, concentrates of viruses will be purified and subjected to pulsed-field gel electrophoresis to separate viral DNA based on genome size. From the number, positions, and staining intensity of different bands, the PI will estimate the diversity, genome sizes, and abundance of viruses in each sample. Through coordination with other researchers, the PI will relate viral abundance, the frequency of viral infections, and viral community diversity to hydrographic and biological variables to determine those which may be important in regulating viral propagation in arctic sea ice and seawater.