Sub-daily virus sampling at the Bermuda Atlantic Time Series reveals diel and depth-structured population dynamics without community-level shifts

TL;DR

This study reveals that ocean viruses show detailed daily and depth-based population changes, even without major shifts in overall community structure.

Contribution

The study provides high-frequency, sub-daily virus sampling data revealing diel and depth-driven population dynamics in ocean microbes.

Findings

Community-level virus diversity metrics did not show significant temporal changes at fixed locations.

Population-level analyses revealed diel rhythms in surface waters and depth-driven differences.

Three archetypes of viral temporal dynamics were identified, including night-peaking viruses linked to Prochlorococcus.

Abstract

Ocean microbes contribute to biogeochemical cycles and ecosystem function, but they do so under top-down pressure imposed by viruses. While viruses are increasingly understood spatially and beginning to be incorporated into predictive modeling, high-frequency ocean virus dynamics remain understudied due to methodological challenges. Here we sampled stratified Bermuda Atlantic Time Series (BATS) waters for 112 hours at sub-daily 4- (surface) or 12- (deep chlorophyll maximum) hour intervals, purified viral particles from these samples, sequenced their metagenomes, and used the resulting data to characterize high-frequency virus community dynamics. Aggregated community diversity metrics changed with depth, but were not statistically significant temporally at a fixed location. However, finer-scale population-level analyses revealed both depth and temporal change, including physicochemical depth-driven differences and, in surface waters, thousands of viral populations that exhibited statistically significant diel rhythms. Statistical analyses revealed three main archetypes of temporal dynamics that themselves differed in abundance patterns, host predictions, viral taxonomy, and gene functions. Among these, highlights include viruses resembling an archetype with a night peaking pattern in activity that include an over-representation of viruses that putatively infect Prochlorococcus, a phototrophic cyanobacteria. Together, these efforts provide baseline community- and population-scale short-time-frame observations relevant to future climate state modeling.

Viruses are often studied in disease settings, but in the ocean they outnumber cells and shape ecosystems, yet their dynamics remain poorly understood. In this study, high-resolution sampling of blue-ocean waters revealed little community-level change but extensive depth- and diel-driven population dynamics beneath the surface.

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