Airborne Algicidal Bacteria May Control Phytoplankton Cell Fate in the Oceanic Blooms

NAAMA LANG-YONA, J. Michel Flores, Inbal Nussbaum, Ilan Koren, Assaf Vardi, Weizmann Institute of Science

     Abstract Number: 646
     Working Group: Bioaerosols

Abstract
Ocean microbes are involved in global processes such as nutrient and carbon cycling. Recent studies indicated diverse modes of algal-bacterial interactions, including mutualism and pathogenicity, which have a substantial impact on ecology and oceanic carbon sequestration, and hence on climate. However, the airborne dispersal and pathogenicity of bacteria in the marine ecosystem remained elusive. Here we isolated an airborne algicidal bacterium, Roseovarius nubinhibens, emitted to the atmosphere as primary marine aerosol and collected above a coccolithophore bloom in the North Atlantic Ocean. The aerosolized bacteria retained infective properties and induced lysis of Emiliania huxleyi cultures. This suggests that the transport of marine bacteria through the atmosphere can effectively spread infection agents over vast oceanic regions, highlighting its significance in regulating cell fate in algal blooms.