Carbon Cycle
Marine viruses may play an important role in the carbon cycle by increasing the efficiency of the biological pump. The argument is that lysis releases unstable compounds, such as amino acids and nucleic acids, which tend to be recycled near the surface, whereas more indigestible carbon-rich material, such as that found in cell walls, is probably exported to deeper waters. Thus, the material that is exported to deeper waters by the 'viral shunt' is probably more carbon rich than the material from which it was derived. This would increase the efficiency of the biological pump.
Read more about this topic: Marine Bacteriophage
Famous quotes containing the word cycle:
“The cycle of the machine is now coming to an end. Man has learned much in the hard discipline and the shrewd, unflinching grasp of practical possibilities that the machine has provided in the last three centuries: but we can no more continue to live in the world of the machine than we could live successfully on the barren surface of the moon.”
—Lewis Mumford (1895–1990)