Microeological Relationship Between Microalgal Virus and Host

Algal viruses can infect,kill and lyse phytoplankton in marine ecosystems.Natural mortality(also known as cell lysis) of phytoplankton has been recognized as an important factor that caused the loss of microalgae.Viral-mediated mortality may not only affect algal species succession,but also affect intraspecies succession,the abundance and diversity of host cell communities in natural marine environments.More and more evidence showed that viruses can change phytoplankton dynamics through reduction of host populations,or by preventing algal host populations from reaching high levels.Therefore,algal virus-host interactions play important roles in bloom dynamics and the propagation of infection.At the same time,the identification of highly specific host ranges of viruses is changing our understanding of population dynamics.This paper reviews progress has been made in virus-host relationships,which involves the Virus-phytoplankton systems,viral control of phytoplankton dynamics,viral-mediated mortality of phytoplankton,host defense to viral offence,effect of viruses on algal population and important environmental factors affecting virus-host interactions.