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Highly diverse flavobacterial phages as mortality factor during North Sea spring blooms

It is generally recognized that phages have a modulating role in the marine environment. Therefore, we hypothesized that phages can be a mortality factor for the dense heterotrophic bacterial population succeeding in phytoplankton blooms. For the marine carbon cycle, spring phytoplankton blooms are important recurring events. In this study, we focused on Flavobacteriia, because they are main responders during these blooms and have an important role in the degradation of polysaccharides. A cultivation-based approach was used, obtaining 44 lytic flavobacterial phages (flavophages), representing twelve new species from two viral realms – Duplodnaviria and Monodnaviria. Taxonomic analysis allowed us to delineate ten new phage genera and seven new families, from which nine and four, respectively, had no previously cultivated representatives. Genomic analysis predicted various life styles and genomic replication strategies. A likely eukaryote-associated host habitat was reflected in the gene content of some of the flavophages. Detection in cellular metagenomes and by direct-plating indicated that part of these phages were actively replicating in the environment during the 2018 spring bloom. Furthermore, CRISPR/Cas spacers and re-isolation during two consecutive years indicated that, at least part of the new flavophages are stable components of the microbial community in the North Sea. Together, our results indicate that these diverse flavophages have the potential to modulate their respective host populations.