Nagasaki Keizo, Takao Yoshitake, Shirai Yoko, Mizumoto Hiroyuki, Tomaru Yuji
National Research Institute of Fisheries and Environment of Inland Sea, Fisheries Research Agency, Hirohima, Japan.
Uirusu. 2005 Jun;55(1):127-32. doi: 10.2222/jsv.55.127.
A great amount of virus particles exist in natural waters. Each virion is considered to have its own ecological role, affecting the maintenance and fluctuation of aquatic ecosystems. We have been studying viruses infectious to micro-plankton, especially those infecting phytoplankton. Red tides are caused by drastic increase in abundance of plankton. We succeeded in elucidating that viral infection is one of the most important factors determining the dynamics and termination of algal blooms by means of field survey and molecular experiments. In addition, we demonstrated that the interrelationship between viruses and their hosts are highly complicated, and might be determined by the molecular-structural difference of viral capsids among distinct virus ecotypes. Furthermore, in the process of our investigation on various aquatic algal viruses, their importance as genetic sources has also been suggested. In order to deeply understand the mechanism of aquatic ecosystem, more intensive studies as for aquatic viruses are urgently required.
天然水体中存在大量病毒颗粒。每个病毒体都被认为具有其自身的生态作用，影响着水生生态系统的维持和波动。我们一直在研究感染微型浮游生物的病毒，特别是那些感染浮游植物的病毒。赤潮是由浮游生物数量的急剧增加引起的。通过现场调查和分子实验，我们成功地阐明了病毒感染是决定藻华动态和终结的最重要因素之一。此外，我们证明了病毒与其宿主之间的相互关系非常复杂，可能由不同病毒生态型之间病毒衣壳的分子结构差异所决定。此外，在我们对各种水生藻类病毒的研究过程中，它们作为遗传来源的重要性也已被提出。为了深入了解水生生态系统的机制，迫切需要对水生病毒进行更深入的研究。
