Viral enumeration using cost-effective wet-mount epifluorescence microscopy for aquatic ecosystems and modern microbialites

Madeline Bellanger; Pieter Visscher; Richard Allen White 3rd

doi:10.1128/aem.01744-23

Viral enumeration using cost-effective wet-mount epifluorescence microscopy for aquatic ecosystems and modern microbialites

Appl Environ Microbiol. 2023 Dec 21;89(12):e0174423. doi: 10.1128/aem.01744-23. Epub 2023 Nov 28.

Authors

Madeline Bellanger^{1

2}, Pieter Visscher³, Richard Allen White 3rd^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Bioinformatics and Genomics, North Carolina Research Campus, The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Kannapolis, North Carolina, USA.
² Computational Intelligence to Predict Health and Environmental Risks (CIPHER), The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA.
³ Department of Marine Sciences and Geoscience, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, USA.

Abstract

Low-cost and robust viral enumeration is a critical first step toward understanding the global virome. Our method is a deep drive integration providing a window into viral dark matter within aquatic ecosystems. We enumerated the viruses within Green Lake and Great Salt Lake microbialites, EPS, and water column. The entire weight of all the viruses in Green Lake and Great Salt Lake are ~598 g and ~2.2 kg, respectively.

Keywords: Fayetteville Green Lakes, NY; Great Salt Lake, UT; bacteriophage (phage); epifluorescence microscopy; microbialites; stromatolites; thrombolites; viruses.

Publication types

Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Cost-Benefit Analysis
Ecosystem*
Lakes
Microscopy
Viruses*

Grants and funding

NNH22ZDA001N-EXO/NASA | NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI)