IR Home
AME
Home
Editors
Forthcoming
Information
Subscribe
Journals
Home
MEPS
AME
CR
DAO
ESEP
ESR
Search
Subscribe
Book Series
EE Books
Top Books
ESEP Books
Order
EEIU Brochures
(pdf format)
Discussion Forums
Home
Research
IR Research
Institutions
International Ecology Institute
Eco-Ethics International Union
Foundation
Otto Kinne Foundation
 | |
AME 35:131-139 (2004)
|
Abstract
|
Impact of initial phage/host ratio and nutrient addition on coexistence in a phage-host system
Arite Wolf1,2,5, TianLing Zheng3,6, Karl-Paul Witzel4, Günter Jost1,*
1Institut für Ostseeforschung Warnemünde, Seestraße 15, 18119 Rostock, Germany
2Fachbereich Biologie, Universität Rostock, Ökologie, Freiligrathstraße 7-8, 18051 Rostock, Germany
3Environmental Sciences Research Center, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, PR China
4Max-Planck-Institut für Limnologie, PO Box 165, 24302 Plön, Germany
5Present address: Fachbereich Biologie, Mikrobiologie, Universität Rostock, Albert-Einstein-Straße 3, 18059 Rostock, Germany
6Present address: School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, PR China
*Corresponding author. Email: guenter.jost@io-warnemuende.de
ABSTRACT: The influence of specific phages on the population size of their host bacteria was studied using a model system of a selected phage and its host bacterium, identified as Aeromonas sp. isolated from a lagoon in the southern Baltic Sea. For
all initial phage/host ratios (PBR [phage/bacterium ratio] of 0.1 to 100), phage and host abundances reached a ratio of about 5 to 50 within the first 8 h. Interestingly, this range of phage/bacterium ratios of a single phage-host system corresponds to
the ratio of virus to bacterial abundance found in natural habitats. The proportion of sensitive cells containing mature phage particles increased in the first 4 h to 40%, and then decreased (at rates dependent on the initial ratio) within 12 h (initial
PBR of 100), 48 h (initial PBR of 10 and 1) and 72 h (initial PBR of 0.1) to less than 1%. There was evidence for rapid development of immunity (probably pseudolysogeny), especially at high initial phage concentrations. After 96 h incubation, carbon,
nitrogen and phosphorus were added to improve the nutritional state of the bacteria. Although nutrients were added to all treatments when phage/host ratios were nearly equal, quite different reactions were observed for the bacteria populations with
different initial PBRs. Those with low initial PBRs showed the most pronounced increase.
KEY WORDS: Phage-host system · Immunity · Lysogeny · Pseudolysogeny · Phage/bacterium ratio · Coexistence
Full text in pdf format
Published in AME Vol.
35, No. 2
(2004) on April 28
Print ISSN: 0948-3055; Online ISSN: 1616-1564.
Copyright © Inter-Research, Oldendorf/Luhe, 2004
|
