Highly diverse and unknown viruses may enhance Antarctic endoliths’ adaptability
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Abstract
Background
Rock-dwelling microorganisms are key players in ecosystem functioning of Antarctic ice free-areas. Yet, little is known about their diversity and ecology, and further still, viruses in these communities have been largely unexplored despite important roles related to host metabolism and nutrient cycling. To begin to address this, we present a large-scale viral catalog from Antarctic rock microbial communities.
Results
We performed metagenomic analyses on rocks from across Antarctica representing a broad range of environmental and spatial conditions, and which resulted in a predicted viral catalog comprising > 75,000 viral operational taxonomic units (vOTUS). We found largely undescribed, highly diverse and spatially structured virus communities which had predicted auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs) with functions indicating that they may be potentially influencing bacterial adaptation and biogeochemistry.
Conclusion
This catalog lays the foundation for expanding knowledge of virosphere diversity, function, spatial ecology, and dynamics in extreme environments. This work serves as a step towards exploring adaptability of microbial communities in the face of a changing climate.
Article activity feed
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This study looks at the viral diversity within endolithic communities in Antarctic ice-free areas, and is particularly important because studies to date have focused on Antarctic freshwater lakes and other arguably more "habitable" locations. I'm surprised by the sheer amount of predicted novel phage populations in this environment. Perhaps even more interesting are the unknown hosts for the majority of vOTUS. I think this study could be strengthened by further exploring and quantifying the enrichment of carbon, energy and nitrogen metabolism related phage genes and comparing to other environments to conclude if indeed these phage populations play a substantial role in enabling adaptability/ survival of of these microbial communities to these particularly harsh environments. Congratulations on a very important and easily accessible …
This study looks at the viral diversity within endolithic communities in Antarctic ice-free areas, and is particularly important because studies to date have focused on Antarctic freshwater lakes and other arguably more "habitable" locations. I'm surprised by the sheer amount of predicted novel phage populations in this environment. Perhaps even more interesting are the unknown hosts for the majority of vOTUS. I think this study could be strengthened by further exploring and quantifying the enrichment of carbon, energy and nitrogen metabolism related phage genes and comparing to other environments to conclude if indeed these phage populations play a substantial role in enabling adaptability/ survival of of these microbial communities to these particularly harsh environments. Congratulations on a very important and easily accessible piece of work that will pave the way to understanding phage-host interactions and their implications for life in extreme environments.
This is an archived comment originally written by Januka Athukoralage
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This study looks at the viral diversity within endolithic communities in Antarctic ice-free areas, and is particularly important because studies to date have focused on Antarctic freshwater lakes and other arguably more "habitable" locations. I'm surprised by the sheer amount of predicted novel phage populations in this environment. Perhaps even more interesting are the unknown hosts for the majority of vOTUS. I think this study could be strengthened by further exploring and quantifying the enrichment of carbon, energy and nitrogen metabolism related phage genes and comparing to other environments to conclude if indeed these phage populations play a substantial role in enabling adaptability/ survival of of these microbial communities to these particularly harsh environments. Congratulations on a very important and easily accessible …
This study looks at the viral diversity within endolithic communities in Antarctic ice-free areas, and is particularly important because studies to date have focused on Antarctic freshwater lakes and other arguably more "habitable" locations. I'm surprised by the sheer amount of predicted novel phage populations in this environment. Perhaps even more interesting are the unknown hosts for the majority of vOTUS. I think this study could be strengthened by further exploring and quantifying the enrichment of carbon, energy and nitrogen metabolism related phage genes and comparing to other environments to conclude if indeed these phage populations play a substantial role in enabling adaptability/ survival of of these microbial communities to these particularly harsh environments. Congratulations on a very important and easily accessible piece of work that will pave the way to understanding phage-host interactions and their implications for life in extreme environments.
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