Hunting Down Giant Viruses That Attack Tiny Algae potentially threatening Earth's oxygen production

Horror stories from the oceans! What kind of symbiosis is this?

"... Giant viruses inhabiting the oceans infect, among others, various species of single-celled algae, photosynthetic organisms that are responsible for about half of the Earth’s oxygen production and around half of the global carbon fixation. Viral infection can cause a rapid collapse of algal blooms – accumulations of algae stretching across tens of thousands of kilometers in the ocean – and this can, in turn, substantially affect extensive marine, atmospheric and terrestrial ecosystems. ..."

From the abstract:

"Giant viruses (phylum Nucleocytoviricota) are globally distributed in aquatic ecosystems. They play fundamental roles as evolutionary drivers of eukaryotic plankton and regulators of global biogeochemical cycles. However, we lack knowledge about their native hosts, hindering our understanding of their life cycle and ecological importance. In the present study, we applied a single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) approach to samples collected during an induced algal bloom, which enabled pairing active giant viruses with their native protist hosts. We detected hundreds of single cells from multiple host lineages infected by diverse giant viruses. These host cells included members of the algal groups Chrysophycae and Prymnesiophycae, as well as heterotrophic flagellates in the class Katablepharidaceae. Katablepharids were infected with a rare Imitervirales-07 giant virus lineage expressing a large repertoire of cell-fate regulation genes. Analysis of the temporal dynamics of these host–virus interactions revealed an important role for the Imitervirales-07 in controlling the population size of the host Katablepharid population. Our results demonstrate that scRNA-seq can be used to identify previously undescribed host–virus interactions and study their ecological importance and impact."

Hunting Down Giant Viruses That Attack Tiny Algae - Environment | Weizmann Wonder Wander - News, Features and Discoveries "A mysterious menace lurks in the oceans, threatening algal blooms. Weizmann Institute researchers have developed a new way to track the culprit – giant viruses – and identify their traces in specific types of tiny algae that they attack"

Single-cell RNA-seq of the rare virosphere reveals the native hosts of giant viruses in the marine environment (no public access)

How blooms collapse: Four giant hexagon-shaped viruses that multiplied within a single-celled alga (rough texture on the right) are about to infect other algal cells. Three viruses are intact and ready for action, and one (white) lacks DNA.

The line connecting a giant virus to a tiny alga: Families of single-celled algae (left) and the giant viruses (right) that they host, as discovered in the study

AI-Directed Algae Blooms Boost Biofuel Prospects

Good news! Very clever! Whether fossil or bio fuels, the age of carbon based energy is far from over!

As if we needed carbon capture for a trace gas in the atmosphere, but if it soothes climate change demagogues why not! This would be a nice carbon cycle in and out of the atmosphere.

"... By using machine learning to precisely tune the growth of blue-green algae, also known as cyanobacteria, the Texas A&M University team is able to produce over 43 grams per square meter a day in an outdoor experimental setup. That’s about twice the 25 grams/m2/day target recently released by the U.S. Department of Energy. ...

The new high yield would bring the algae selling price to US $309 per tonne ($281 per tonne), less than a quarter of the selling price of algae cultivated in 2019 using state-of-the-art open-pond methods. ... estimates that ... process has the potential to bring the algal biofuel price to below $5 per gallon ($1.32 per liter) ...
That's slightly higher than corn ethanol, which is $2 to $4 per gallon (53 cents to $1.06 per liter) ...
The researchers also found a way to make harvesting faster and cheaper. They engineered the algae to produce a chemical called limonene that makes the surface of the cells water-repellent. As a result, the cells try to get away from water and cluster together, eventually getting heavy enough to settle down at the bottom of the vessel and making them easier to remove. ..."

From the abstract:

"Algal biofuel is regarded as one of the ultimate solutions for renewable energy, but its commercialization is hindered by growth limitations caused by mutual shading and high harvest costs. We overcome these challenges by advancing machine learning to inform the design of a semi-continuous algal cultivation (SAC) to sustain optimal cell growth and minimize mutual shading. An aggregation-based sedimentation (ABS) strategy is then designed to achieve low-cost biomass harvesting and economical SAC. ..."

AI-Directed Algae Blooms Boost Biofuel Prospects - IEEE Spectrum The slimy stuff is looking better for carbon capture, too

Machine learning-informed and synthetic biology-enabled semi-continuous algal cultivation to unleash renewable fuel productivity (open access)

Diatoms And The Global Warming Hoax

Posted: 7/19/2019

If you had any doubts that the Global Warming Hoax (a.k.a. Climate Change) is the greatest hoax/scam perpetrated on humans in several generations, here is more evidence.

Diatoms (a.k.a. brown algae) generate about “20% of the Earth’s Oxygen” (S1, S2) and they store huge amounts of carbon dioxide. “They are responsible for 40 percent of the organic carbon produced in the world's oceans each year” (S2). At the end of their lives, they sink to the ocean’s floor. Despite the critical functions of diatoms, little has been known about their life cycle and their health to this day. Apparently, there are “thousands of different kinds of diatoms” (S2) and, I guess, we still know very little about them.

There is still so much, we do not know! Any pretense of knowledge is a false sense of superiority! We still live in the Dark Ages! The superstitions of the Medieval era did not end with the Renaissance or Enlightenment!

Sources (S):

1. Algae-killing viruses spur nutrient recycling in oceans (published 7/18/19)
2. Could Tiny Diatoms Help Offset Global Warming? (1/26/08)