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[14] [15] Marine viruses, although microscopic and essentially unnoticed by scientists until recently, are the most abundant and diverse biological entities in the ocean. Viruses have an estimated abundance of 10 30 in the ocean, or between 10 6 and 10 11 viruses per millilitre. [4]
The two main hypotheses for their origin are that either they evolved from small viruses, picking up DNA from host organisms, or that they evolved from very complicated organisms into the current form which is not self-sufficient for reproduction. [58] What sort of complicated organism giant viruses might have diverged from is also a topic of ...
Ocean surface habitats sit at the interface between the atmosphere and the ocean. The biofilm-like habitat at the surface of the ocean harbours surface-dwelling microorganisms, commonly referred to as neuston. This vast air–water interface sits at the intersection of major air–water exchange processes spanning more than 70% of the global ...
At night, ocean water can light up internally and sparkle with blue light because of these dinoflagellates. [ 81 ] [ 82 ] Bioluminescent dinoflagellates possess scintillons , individual cytoplasmic bodies which contain dinoflagellate luciferase , the main enzyme involved in the luminescence.
Phycodnaviridae is a family of large (100–560 kb) double-stranded DNA viruses that infect marine or freshwater eukaryotic algae. Viruses within this family have a similar morphology, with an icosahedral capsid (polyhedron with 20 faces). As of 2014, there were 33 species in this family, divided among 6 genera.
In some animals, the light is bacteriogenic, produced by symbiotic bacteria such as those from the genus Vibrio; [2] in others, it is autogenic, produced by the animals themselves. In most cases, the principal chemical reaction in bioluminescence involves the reaction of a substrate called luciferin and an enzyme, called luciferase.
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Very little is known about the microbial community of the mesopelagic zone because it is a difficult part of the ocean to study. Recent work using DNA from seawater samples emphasized the importance of viruses and microbes role in recycling organic matter from the surface ocean, known as the microbial loop.