The ecological significance of extracellular vesicles in modulating host-virus interactions during algal blooms [article]

Daniella Schatz, Guy Schleyer, Marius Rydningen Saltvedt, Ruth-Anne Sandaa, Ester Feldmesser, Assaf Vardi
2021 bioRxiv   pre-print
Extracellular vesicles are produced by organisms from all kingdoms and serve a myriad of functions, many of which involve cell-cell signaling, especially during stress conditions and host-pathogen interactions. In the marine environment, communication between microorganisms can shape trophic level interactions and population succession, yet we know very little about the involvement of vesicles in these processes. In a previous study, we showed that vesicles produced during viral infection by
more » ... ecologically important model alga Emiliania huxleyi, could act as a pro-viral signal, by expediting infection and enhancing the half-life of the virus in the extracellular milieu. Here, we expand our laboratory findings and show the effect of vesicles on natural populations of E. huxleyi in a mesocosm setting. We profile the small-RNA (sRNA) cargo of vesicles that were produced by E. huxleyi during bloom succession, and show that vesicles applied to natural assemblages expedite viral infection and prolong the half-life of this major mortality agent of E. huxleyi. We subsequently assessed the effect of E. huxleyi-derived vesicles on other microbial populations, and show that there is a downstream effect on the growth of the cyanobacterium Synechococcus, thus emphasizing the importance of extracellular vesicles to microbial interactions in the marine environment.
doi:10.1101/2021.02.10.430559 fatcat:e7hv4lb3brf6johmzxb27g3dkm