Project: EAGER: Iron-Virus Interactions in the Ocean

Iron is an essential micronutrient for phytoplankton that is required for photosynthesis and respiration. Insufficient iron has been shown to limit phytoplankton growth in large regions of the surface ocean, and correspondingly, iron cycling is directly linked to carbon cycling in much of the marine environment. Nearly all iron in seawater (>99%) exists as complexes with organic molecules called ligands, which govern the concentration of iron dissolved in the water and the bioavailability of that iron to phytoplankton. However, despite the importance of iron-binding organic ligands, their sources and identities are largely unknown. Viruses, the majority of which are phages (viruses that infect bacteria), are extremely abundant in seawater and are in the same size fraction as dissolved iron. Recent evidence that non-marine phages contain iron as part of their structures has led to the proposal that marine phages may represent a previously overlooked class of organic iron-binding ligands. This project is determining the contribution of marine phages to dissolved iron pools and culture phage-host systems in the laboratory to determine if phages utilize bacterial iron-uptake receptors for infection in the manner of a Trojan horse. As the first study to examine the biogeochemical impact of trace elements contained within the structure of highly abundant marine phage particles, successful completion of the proposed research will be transformative for biological and chemical oceanography and have far-reaching implications for other fields, including human health where iron availability plays an important role in microbial pathogenesis. This project contributes to the multidisciplinary training of a graduate student and postdoctoral researcher. Research results will be disseminated through scientific publications and presentations, and the public will be educated about linkages between viruses and ocean chemistry via a hands-on exhibit for the annual St. Petersburg Science Festival.

Building upon evidence from non-marine model systems demonstrating the presence of iron ions in phage tail proteins and phage utilization of cell surface receptors for siderophore-bound iron, this project combines field and laboratory-based experiments to test the following three hypotheses regarding iron-virus interactions in the oceans: (1) Iron incorporated into phage tails originates from bacterial cell reserves, reducing the amount of iron available for remineralization upon lysis; (2) Phages constitute important iron-binding ligands in the oceans, accounting for a substantial portion of organically complexed colloidal dissolved iron; (3) Marine phages compete with siderophore-bound iron for uptake receptors on the bacterial cell surface and use iron in their tails as a Trojan horse for infection. Initial calculations predict that phages could account for up to 70% of the colloidal fraction of organically complexed dissolved iron in the surface ocean; therefore, this project is critical for advancing knowledge of trace-metal cycling as well as phage-host interactions. Additionally, if a portion of the cellular iron thought to be released from bacterial cells for remineralization following lysis is already incorporated into phage tails, then these findings will have significant implications for oceanic biogeochemical models. Through a combination of laboratory-based culture experiments and field sample measurements, this project could reveal the identity of a ubiquitous component of colloidal organic iron-binding ligands, modify the estimates of iron concentrations and species released through viral lysis, and potentially identify a novel receptor type for marine phage that may compete with the acquisition of siderophore-bound iron by host bacteria.