背景:人们越来越相信土壤巨型病毒通过感染多种真核生物而对生态功能产生深远的影响。然而,他们的生物地理学和生态学仍然知之甚少。
结果:在这项研究中,我们分析了来自5种生境类型(农田,森林,草原,戈壁沙漠,和矿山荒地)在中国各地,并确定了与9个家庭相关的533种不同的巨型病毒基因型,从而极大地扩大了土壤巨型病毒的多样性。在九个家庭中,皮索病毒科是最多样化的。大多数基因型在栖息地类型之间表现出异质性分布,在矿山荒地中具有非常高的独特表型比例。基因型的丰度与其环境范围呈负相关。在本研究中,在已发布的全球表土宏基因组数据集中可检测到总共76种基因型。在气候方面,地理,edaphic,和生物特征,土壤真核生物被确定为跨生境类型的巨型病毒群落β-多样性的最重要驱动因素。此外,共现网络分析揭示了巨型病毒基因型和真核生物之间的一些配对(原生动物,真菌,和藻类)。从我们的宏基因组中回收的44个中至高质量的巨型病毒基因组的分析不仅发现了它们高度共享的功能,而且还发现了与碳相关的新辅助代谢基因,硫磺,和磷循环。
结论:这些发现扩展了我们对多样性的了解,栖息地偏好,生态司机,潜在的宿主,和土壤巨型病毒的辅助代谢。视频摘要。
BACKGROUND: Soil giant viruses are increasingly believed to have profound effects on ecological functioning by infecting diverse eukaryotes. However, their biogeography and ecology remain poorly understood.
RESULTS: In this study, we analyzed 333 soil metagenomes from 5 habitat types (farmland, forest, grassland, Gobi desert, and mine wasteland) across China and identified 533 distinct giant virus phylotypes affiliated with nine families, thereby greatly expanding the diversity of soil giant viruses. Among the nine families, Pithoviridae were the most diverse. The majority of phylotypes exhibited a heterogeneous distribution among habitat types, with a remarkably high proportion of unique phylotypes in mine wasteland. The abundances of phylotypes were negatively correlated with their environmental ranges. A total of 76 phylotypes recovered in this study were detectable in a published global topsoil metagenome dataset. Among climatic, geographical, edaphic, and biotic characteristics, soil eukaryotes were identified as the most important driver of beta-diversity of giant viral communities across habitat types. Moreover, co-occurrence network analysis revealed some pairings between giant viral phylotypes and eukaryotes (protozoa, fungi, and algae). Analysis of 44 medium- to high-quality giant virus genomes recovered from our metagenomes uncovered not only their highly shared functions but also their novel auxiliary metabolic genes related to carbon, sulfur, and phosphorus cycling.
CONCLUSIONS: These findings extend our knowledge of diversity, habitat preferences, ecological drivers, potential hosts, and auxiliary metabolism of soil giant viruses. Video Abstract.