• News
  • Lake Facts
  • About

Lake Scientist

Research Abstract: Metagenomic Investigation Of Viral Communities In Ballast Water

0
  • by Yiseul Kim, Tiong Gim Aw, Tracy K. Teal, and Joan B. Rose
  • — September 30, 2015
m_v_american_integrity

The M/V American Integrity as it transits the Duluth Ship Canal. It is a 1000-foot freighter that carries bulk cargo around the Great Lakes. (Credit: Flickr User Pete Markham via Creative Commons 2.0)

Ballast water is one of the most important vectors for the transport of non-native species to new aquatic environments. Due to the development of new ballast water quality standards for viruses, this study aimed to determine the taxonomic diversity and composition of viral communities (viromes) in ballast and harbor waters using metagenomics approaches. Ballast waters from different sources within the North America Great Lakes and paired harbor waters were collected around the Port of Duluth Superior. Bioinformatics analysis of over 550 million sequences showed that a majority of the viral sequences could not be assigned to any taxa associated with reference sequences, indicating the lack of knowledge on viruses in ballast and harbor waters. However, the assigned viruses were dominated by doublestranded DNA phages, and sequences associated with potentially emerging viral pathogens of fish and shrimp were detected with low amino acid similarity in both ballast and harbor waters. Annotation-independent comparisons showed that viromes were distinct among the Great Lakes, and the Great Lakes viromes were closely related to viromes of other cold natural freshwater systems but distant from viromes of marine and human designed/managed freshwater systems. These results represent the most detailed characterization to date of viruses in ballast water, demonstrating their diversity and the potential significance of the shipmediated spread of viruses.

Full study, including methods, results and conclusions, available in Environmental Science & Technology under an open-access license.

Share

You may also like...

  • dark carbon fixation Research Summary: Dark Carbon Fixation In Lake Sediments
  • Research Summary: Effects of Boating on Summer Nearshore Transparency at Lake Tahoe
  • internal solitary waves Research Summary: Intrinsic Breaking Of Internal Solitary Waves In A Deep Lake
  • Research Summary: Effects Of Nutrient Limitation On The Release And Use of Dissolved Organic Carbon From Benthic Algae In Lake Michigan

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Time limit is exhausted. Please reload CAPTCHA.

FishSens SondeCAM HD
  • Recent Posts

    • Sampling on Lake St. Clair, July 29, 2013.Research Brief: Contaminants in a Great Lakes Urban-Dominant WatershedJune 2, 2023
    • Sea LampreyResearch Brief: Incorporating the Two-Eyed Seeing Approach into Sea Lamprey ManagementMay 26, 2023
    • USCGC Mackinaw Entering Duluth HarborResearch Brief: Full-Year Zooplankton Dynamics Along a Nearshore Depth GradientMay 19, 2023
    • Image of Lake 239 at IISD Experimental Lakes Area from aboveResearch Brief: Using Sediment DNA to Determine Long-Term Cyanobacterial DynamicsMay 12, 2023
    • Crystal Clear Problems: Impacts of Water Transparency in Aquatic EcosystemsMay 1, 2023
  • Popular Tags

    Great Lakes research pollution Lake Erie research summary Product Spotlight invasive species Algae international runoff Lake Michigan Ohio dissolved oxygen nutrient-loading EPA temperature eutrophication toxic waters climate change USGS ice phosphorus Asian Carp Michigan restoration

©2023 Fondriest Environmental Inc. | Questions? Call 888.426.2151 or email customercare@fondriest.com