LAUSR

Abstract Viruses are the most numerous biological entities in the ocean and are crucial for various ecological processes through viral infection and lysis. Despite their impacts on biogeochemical cycling, molecular cognition of the host-virus metabolic interactions for marine heterotrophic bacteria is still poorly understood. To explore the influence of phage infection on the host's transcription and metabolism, the gene expression patterns of Dinoroseobacter shibae DFL12T with and without phage R2C infection were analyzed through genomic microarray. The results showed that a total of 35 and 36 genes of D. shibae DFL12T were differently expressed at the stages of early replication and late assembly during infection, respectively. The down-regulated differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were obviously predominant at both stages of early replication and late assembly which indicated negatively influences on the transcription of D. shibae DFL12T by viral infection. Overall, our results demonstrated that phages play a nonnegligible role in host's transcription and metabolism for marine heterotrophic bacteria.