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Title: Host-linked soil viral ecology along a permafrost thaw gradient

Journal Article · · Nature Microbiology
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [4];  [5];  [4];  [6];  [5];  [7];  [7];  [4];  [8];  [8]; ORCiD logo [6];  [4];  [9];  [7];  [10] more »;  [5];  [4]; ORCiD logo [4] « less
  1. The Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH (United States); Univ. of California, Davis, Davis, CA (United States)
  2. The Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  3. The Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH (United States); Louisiana State Univ., Baton Rouge, LA (United States)
  4. The Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH (United States)
  5. Univ. of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland (Australia)
  6. Norwegian Univ. of Life Sciences, As (Norway)
  7. Florida State Univ., Tallahassee, FL (United States)
  8. Univ. of New Hampshire, Durham, NH (United States)
  9. Stockholm Univ., Stockholm (Sweden)
  10. Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (United States)

Climate change threatens to release abundant carbon that is sequestered at high latitudes, but the constraints on microbial metabolisms that mediate the release of methane and carbon dioxide are poorly understood. The role of viruses, which are known to affect microbial dynamics, metabolism and biogeochemistry in the oceans, remains largely unexplored in soil. Here, we aimed to investigate how viruses influence microbial ecology and carbon metabolism in peatland soils along a permafrost thaw gradient in Sweden. We recovered 1,907 viral populations (genomes and large genome fragments) from 197 bulk soil and size-fractionated metagenomes, 58% of which were detected in metatranscriptomes and presumed to be active. In silico predictions linked 35% of the viruses to microbial host populations, highlighting likely viral predators of key carbon-cycling microorganisms, including methanogens and methanotrophs. Lineage-specific virus/host ratios varied, suggesting that viral infection dynamics may differentially impact microbial responses to a changing climate. Virus-encoded glycoside hydrolases, including an endomannanase with confirmed functional activity, indicated that viruses influence complex carbon degradation and that viral abundances were significant predictors of methane dynamics. In conclusion, these findings suggest that viruses may impact ecosystem function in climate-critical, terrestrial habitats and identify multiple potential viral contributions to soil carbon cycling.

Research Organization:
Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (United States); The Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0004632; SC0010580; SC0016440
OSTI ID:
1486876
Journal Information:
Nature Microbiology, Vol. 3, Issue 8; ISSN 2058-5276
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 229 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (38)

Ontogenic succession of thermokarst thaw ponds is linked to dissolved organic matter quality and microbial degradation potential journal January 2020
Viruses control dominant bacteria colonizing the terrestrial deep biosphere after hydraulic fracturing journal December 2018
Climate change microbiology — problems and perspectives journal May 2019
Scientists’ warning to humanity: microorganisms and climate change journal June 2019
Soil microbiomes and climate change journal October 2019
Clades of huge phages from across Earth’s ecosystems journal February 2020
Taxonomic assignment of uncultivated prokaryotic virus genomes is enabled by gene-sharing networks journal May 2019
Untapped viral diversity in global soil metagenomes posted_content January 2019
VIBRANT: Automated recovery, annotation and curation of microbial viruses, and evaluation of virome function from genomic sequences posted_content November 2019
Viral and bacterial community responses to stimulated Fe(III)‐bioreduction during simulated subsurface bioremediation journal March 2019
A viral reckoning: viruses emerge as essential manipulators of global ecosystems: Crystal ball journal October 2018
Prevalence of viral photosynthesis genes along a freshwater to saltwater transect in Southeast USA journal July 2019
Demographic and environmental drivers of metagenomic viral diversity in vampire bats journal October 2019
Characteristics of Wetting-Induced Bacteriophage Blooms in Biological Soil Crust journal December 2019
Studying the gut virome in the metagenomic era: challenges and perspectives journal October 2019
Impact of phages on soil bacterial communities and nitrogen availability under different assembly scenarios journal April 2020
Depth-related variability in viral communities in highly stratified sulfidic mine tailings journal June 2020
VIBRANT: automated recovery, annotation and curation of microbial viruses, and evaluation of viral community function from genomic sequences journal June 2020
Uncovering a hidden diversity: optimized protocols for the extraction of dsDNA bacteriophages from soil journal February 2020
Temporal Variability of Virioplankton during a Gymnodinium catenatum Algal Bloom journal January 2020
Evaluation of Sequencing Library Preparation Protocols for Viral Metagenomic Analysis from Pristine Aquifer Groundwaters journal May 2019
Discovery of several thousand highly diverse circular DNA viruses journal February 2020
Towards optimized viral metagenomes for double-stranded and single-stranded DNA viruses from challenging soils journal January 2019
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Evaluation of Sequencing Library Preparation Protocols for Viral Metagenomic Analysis from Pristine Aquifer Groundwaters journal May 2019

Figures / Tables (4)