RNA viruses as drivers of rapid diatom succession within a single bloom event.

Near-daily metatranscriptomics in the Gulf of Aqaba spring bloom shows RNA viruses form sequential waves of active infection linked to diatom mortality.

• Why it matters: Viruses are known to drive phytoplankton mortality, but how they regulate diatom bloom dynamics and succession within a single bloom event remains unclear.
• What they did: The study used quantitative metatranscriptomics to track temporal patterns of diatoms and associated viruses at near-daily resolution, combining diatom transcriptional profiling with correlation and codon usage analyses.
• The result: Stress and death pathways activated before taxon-specific demise, and fluctuations of putative diatom-infecting RNA viruses across intracellular and extracellular fractions were consistent with virus-mediated diatom mortality, supporting overlapping successional waves on daily timescales.