viruses Article Characterization and Temperature Dependence of Arctic Micromonas polaris Viruses Douwe S. Maat 1,†, Tristan Biggs 1,†, Claire Evans 1,2, Judith D. L. van Bleijswijk 1, Nicole N. van der Wel 3, Bas E. Dutilh 4,5 and Corina P. D. Brussaard 1,* 1 Department of Marine Microbiology and Biogeochemistry, NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, and University of Utrecht, P.O. Box 59, 1790 AB Den Burg, Texel, The Netherlands;
[email protected] (D.S.M.);
[email protected] (T.B.);
[email protected] (C.E.);
[email protected] (J.D.L.v.B.) 2 Ocean Biogeochemistry & Ecosystems Research Group, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, European Way, Southampton SO14 3ZH, UK 3 Electron Microscopy Center Amsterdam, Department of Cell Biology and Histology, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Meibergdreef 15, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands;
[email protected] 4 Theoretical Biology and Bioinformatics, Utrecht University, 3584 CH Utrecht, The Netherlands;
[email protected] 5 Centre for Molecular and Biomolecular Informatics, Radboud University Medical Centre, 6525 GA Nijmegen, The Netherlands * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +31-(0)222-369513 † Joint first authors. Academic Editor: Eric O. Freed Received: 4 March 2017; Accepted: 25 May 2017; Published: 2 June 2017 Abstract: Global climate change-induced warming of the Artic seas is predicted to shift the phytoplankton community towards dominance of smaller-sized species due to global warming. Yet, little is known about their viral mortality agents despite the ecological importance of viruses regulating phytoplankton host dynamics and diversity. Here we report the isolation and basic characterization of four prasinoviruses infectious to the common Arctic picophytoplankter Micromonas.