TY - JOUR

T1 - First evidence of virus-like particles in the bacterial symbionts of Bryozoa

AU - Vishnyakov, A. E.

AU - Karagodina, N. P.

AU - Lim-Fong, G.

AU - Ivanov, P. A.

AU - Schwaha, T. F.

AU - Letarov, A. V.

AU - Ostrovsky, A. N.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s).

PY - 2021/12/1

Y1 - 2021/12/1

N2 - Bacteriophage communities associated with humans and vertebrate animals have been extensively studied, but the data on phages living in invertebrates remain scarce. In fact, they have never been reported for most animal phyla. Our ultrastructural study showed for the first time a variety of virus-like particles (VLPs) and supposed virus-related structures inside symbiotic bacteria in two marine species from the phylum Bryozoa, the cheilostomes Bugula neritina and Paralicornia sinuosa. We also documented the effect of VLPs on bacterial hosts: we explain different bacterial ‘ultrastructural types’ detected in bryozoan tissues as stages in the gradual destruction of prokaryotic cells caused by viral multiplication during the lytic cycle. We speculate that viruses destroying bacteria regulate symbiont numbers in the bryozoan hosts, a phenomenon known in some insects. We develop two hypotheses explaining exo- and endogenous circulation of the viruses during the life-cycle of B. neritina. Finally, we compare unusual ‘sea-urchin’-like structures found in the collapsed bacteria in P. sinuosa with so-called metamorphosis associated contractile structures (MACs) formed in the cells of the marine bacterium Pseudoalteromonas luteoviolacea which are known to trigger larval metamorphosis in a polychaete worm.

AB - Bacteriophage communities associated with humans and vertebrate animals have been extensively studied, but the data on phages living in invertebrates remain scarce. In fact, they have never been reported for most animal phyla. Our ultrastructural study showed for the first time a variety of virus-like particles (VLPs) and supposed virus-related structures inside symbiotic bacteria in two marine species from the phylum Bryozoa, the cheilostomes Bugula neritina and Paralicornia sinuosa. We also documented the effect of VLPs on bacterial hosts: we explain different bacterial ‘ultrastructural types’ detected in bryozoan tissues as stages in the gradual destruction of prokaryotic cells caused by viral multiplication during the lytic cycle. We speculate that viruses destroying bacteria regulate symbiont numbers in the bryozoan hosts, a phenomenon known in some insects. We develop two hypotheses explaining exo- and endogenous circulation of the viruses during the life-cycle of B. neritina. Finally, we compare unusual ‘sea-urchin’-like structures found in the collapsed bacteria in P. sinuosa with so-called metamorphosis associated contractile structures (MACs) formed in the cells of the marine bacterium Pseudoalteromonas luteoviolacea which are known to trigger larval metamorphosis in a polychaete worm.

KW - Animals

KW - Bacteriophages/isolation & purification

KW - Bryozoa/anatomy & histology

KW - Host Microbial Interactions

KW - Microbiota

KW - Microscopy, Electron, Transmission

KW - Symbiosis

KW - Virion/isolation & purification

UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.16.045880v1.article-info

UR - https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340765928_First_evidence_of_virus-like_particles_in_the_bacterial_symbionts_of_Bryozoa

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85098944228&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/3f6d591a-756a-309a-90d3-a24b426d3680/

U2 - 10.1038/s41598-020-78616-4

DO - 10.1038/s41598-020-78616-4

M3 - Article

C2 - 33420126

AN - SCOPUS:85098944228

VL - 11

JO - Scientific Reports

JF - Scientific Reports

SN - 2045-2322

IS - 1

M1 - 4

ER -