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Gios E, Mosley OE, Hoggard M, Handley KM. High niche specificity and host genetic diversity of groundwater viruses. ISME J 2024; 18:wrae035. [PMID: 38452204 PMCID: PMC10980836 DOI: 10.1093/ismejo/wrae035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2023] [Revised: 02/14/2024] [Accepted: 02/29/2024] [Indexed: 03/09/2024]
Abstract
Viruses are key members of microbial communities that exert control over host abundance and metabolism, thereby influencing ecosystem processes and biogeochemical cycles. Aquifers are known to host taxonomically diverse microbial life, yet little is known about viruses infecting groundwater microbial communities. Here, we analysed 16 metagenomes from a broad range of groundwater physicochemistries. We recovered 1571 viral genomes that clustered into 468 high-quality viral operational taxonomic units. At least 15% were observed to be transcriptionally active, although lysis was likely constrained by the resource-limited groundwater environment. Most were unclassified (95%), and the remaining 5% were Caudoviricetes. Comparisons with viruses inhabiting other aquifers revealed no shared species, indicating substantial unexplored viral diversity. In silico predictions linked 22.4% of the viruses to microbial host populations, including to ultra-small prokaryotes, such as Patescibacteria and Nanoarchaeota. Many predicted hosts were associated with the biogeochemical cycling of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur. Metabolic predictions revealed the presence of 205 putative auxiliary metabolic genes, involved in diverse processes associated with the utilization of the host's intracellular resources for biosynthesis and transformation reactions, including those involved in nucleotide sugar, glycan, cofactor, and vitamin metabolism. Viruses, prokaryotes overall, and predicted prokaryotic hosts exhibited narrow spatial distributions, and relative abundance correlations with the same groundwater parameters (e.g. dissolved oxygen, nitrate, and iron), consistent with host control over viral distributions. Results provide insights into underexplored groundwater viruses, and indicate the large extent to which viruses may manipulate microbial communities and biogeochemistry in the terrestrial subsurface.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emilie Gios
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Auckland, Auckland 1010, New Zealand
- NINA, Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, Trondheim 7034, Norway
| | - Olivia E Mosley
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Auckland, Auckland 1010, New Zealand
- NatureMetrics Ltd, Surrey Research Park, Guildford GU2 7HJ, United Kingdom
| | - Michael Hoggard
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Auckland, Auckland 1010, New Zealand
| | - Kim M Handley
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Auckland, Auckland 1010, New Zealand
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Wang Z, Peng D, Fu C, Luo X, Guo S, Li L, Yin H. Pan-metagenome reveals the abiotic stress resistome of cigar tobacco phyllosphere microbiome. Front Plant Sci 2023; 14:1248476. [PMID: 38179476 PMCID: PMC10765411 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1248476] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2023] [Accepted: 11/03/2023] [Indexed: 01/06/2024]
Abstract
The important role of microbial associations in mediating plant protection and responses to abiotic stresses has been widely recognized. However, there have been limited studies on the functional profile of the phyllosphere microbiota from tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum), hindering our understanding of the mechanisms underlying stress resilience in this representative and easy-to-cultivate model species from the solanaceous family. To address this knowledge gap, our study employed shotgun metagenomic sequencing for the first time to analyze the genetic catalog and identify putative plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPB) candidates that confer abiotic stress resilience throughout the growth period of cigar tobacco in the phyllosphere. We identified abundant genes from specific bacterial lineages, particularly Pseudomonas, within the cigar tobacco phyllospheric microbiome. These genes were found to confer resilience against a wide range of stressors, including osmotic and drought stress, heavy metal toxicity, temperature perturbation, organic pollutants, oxidative stress, and UV light damage. In addition, we conducted a virome mining analysis on the metagenome to explore the potential roles of viruses in driving microbial adaptation to environmental stresses. Our results identified a total of 3,320 scaffolds predicted to be viral from the cigar tobacco phyllosphere metagenome, with various phages infecting Pseudomonas, Burkholderia, Enterobacteria, Ralstonia, and related viruses. Within the virome, we also annotated genes associated with abiotic stress resilience, such as alkaline phosphatase D (phoD) for nutrient solubilization and glutamate-5-semialdehyde dehydrogenase (proA) for osmolyte synthesis. These findings shed light on the unexplored roles of viruses in facilitating and transferring abiotic stress resilience in the phyllospheric microbiome through beneficial interactions with their hosts. The findings from this study have important implications for agricultural practices, as they offer potential strategies for harnessing the capabilities of the phyllosphere microbiome to enhance stress tolerance in crop plants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhenhua Wang
- Zhangjiajie Tobacco Company of Hunan Province, Zhangjiajie, China
| | - Deyuan Peng
- Zhangjiajie Tobacco Company of Hunan Province, Zhangjiajie, China
| | - Changwu Fu
- Zhangjiajie Tobacco Company of Hunan Province, Zhangjiajie, China
| | - Xianxue Luo
- Zhangjiajie Tobacco Company of Hunan Province, Zhangjiajie, China
| | - Shijie Guo
- Zhangjiajie Tobacco Company of Hunan Province, Zhangjiajie, China
| | - Liangzhi Li
- School of Minerals Processing and Bioengineering, Central South University, Changsha, China
- Key Laboratory of Biometallurgy of Ministry of Education, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Huaqun Yin
- School of Minerals Processing and Bioengineering, Central South University, Changsha, China
- Key Laboratory of Biometallurgy of Ministry of Education, Central South University, Changsha, China
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Liu Y, Meng X, Zheng H, Cai L, Wei S, He M, He J, Hao Y, Ge C, Liu J, Chen F, Xu Y. A novel long-tailed myovirus represents a new T4-like cyanophage cluster. Front Microbiol 2023; 14:1293846. [PMID: 38029084 PMCID: PMC10665884 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1293846] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2023] [Accepted: 10/19/2023] [Indexed: 12/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Cyanophages affect the abundance, diversity, metabolism, and evolution of picocyanobacteria in marine ecosystems. Here we report an estuarine Synechococcus phage, S-CREM2, which represents a novel viral genus and leads to the establishment of a new T4-like cyanophage clade named cluster C. S-CREM2 possesses the longest tail (~418 nm) among isolated cyanomyoviruses and encodes six tail-related proteins that are exclusively homologous to those predicted in the cluster C cyanophages. Furthermore, S-CREM2 may carry three regulatory proteins in the virion, which may play a crucial role in optimizing the host intracellular environment for viral replication at the initial stage of infection. The cluster C cyanophages lack auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs) that are commonly found in cyanophages of the T4-like clusters A and B and encode unique AMGs like an S-type phycobilin lyase gene. A variation in the composition of tRNA and cis-regulatory RNA genes was observed between the marine and freshwater phage strains in cluster C, reflecting their different modes of coping with hosts and habitats. The cluster C cyanophages are widespread in estuarine and coastal regions and exhibit equivalent or even higher relative abundance compared to those of clusters A and B cyanophages in certain estuarine regions. The isolation of cyanophage S-CREM2 provides new insights into the phage-host interactions mediated by both newly discovered AMGs and virion-associated proteins and emphasizes the ecological significance of cluster C cyanophages in estuarine environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuanfang Liu
- Institute of Marine Science and Technology, Shandong University, Qingdao, China
| | - Xue Meng
- Institute of Marine Science and Technology, Shandong University, Qingdao, China
| | - Hongrui Zheng
- Institute of Marine Science and Technology, Shandong University, Qingdao, China
| | - Lanlan Cai
- Department of Ocean Science, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Shuzhen Wei
- State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, Fujian Key Laboratory of Marine Carbon Sequestration, College of Ocean and Earth Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
| | - Minglu He
- School of Information Science and Engineering, Shandong University, Qingdao, China
| | - Jiale He
- School of Life Science, Shandong University, Qingdao, China
| | - Yue Hao
- School of Life Science, Shandong University, Qingdao, China
| | - Chang Ge
- School of Life Science, Shandong University, Qingdao, China
| | - Jihua Liu
- Institute of Marine Science and Technology, Shandong University, Qingdao, China
| | - Feng Chen
- Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Baltimore, MD, United States
| | - Yongle Xu
- Institute of Marine Science and Technology, Shandong University, Qingdao, China
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Mukhopadhyay A, Choudhury S, Kumar M. Metaviromic analyses of DNA virus community from sediments of the N-Choe stream, North India. Virus Res 2023; 330:199110. [PMID: 37031921 DOI: 10.1016/j.virusres.2023.199110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2022] [Revised: 04/06/2023] [Accepted: 04/07/2023] [Indexed: 04/11/2023]
Abstract
Virome exploration from the freshwater stream ecosystem is less explored. We deciphered the DNA virome from sediments of the N-Choe stream in Chandigarh, India. This study utilized the long-read nanopore sequencing data analyzed by assembly-free and assembly-based approaches to study the viral community structure and its genetic potential. In the classified fraction of the virome, we observed the dominance of the ssDNA viruses. The prominent ssDNA virus families were Microviridae, Circoviridae, and Genomoviridae. The majority of dsDNA viruses were bacteriophages belonging to class Caudoviricetes. We also recovered metagenome-assembled viruses of Microviridae, CRESS DNA viruses, and viral-like circular molecules. We identified the structural and functional gene repertoire of the viromes and their gene ontology. Furthermore, we detected auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs) involved in pathways such as pyrimidine synthesis, organosulfur metabolism indicating the functional importance of viruses in the ecosystem. The antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), metal resistance genes (MRGs), and mobile genetic elements (MGEs) present in the viromes and their co-occurrence were studied. ARGs of the glycopeptide, macrolide, lincosamide, streptogramin (MLS), and mupirocin categories were well represented. Among the reads containing ARGs, a few reads were also classified as viruses, indicating that environmental viruses act as reservoirs of ARGs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adhip Mukhopadhyay
- Virology Unit and Bioinformatics Centre, Institute of Microbial Technology, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Sector 39-A, Chandigarh-160036, India; Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad-201002, India
| | - Shubham Choudhury
- Virology Unit and Bioinformatics Centre, Institute of Microbial Technology, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Sector 39-A, Chandigarh-160036, India
| | - Manoj Kumar
- Virology Unit and Bioinformatics Centre, Institute of Microbial Technology, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Sector 39-A, Chandigarh-160036, India; Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad-201002, India.
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Wang Q, Cai L, Zhang R, Wei S, Li F, Liu Y, Xu Y. A Unique Set of Auxiliary Metabolic Genes Found in an Isolated Cyanophage Sheds New Light on Marine Phage-Host Interactions. Microbiol Spectr 2022; 10:e0236722. [PMID: 36190421 PMCID: PMC9602691 DOI: 10.1128/spectrum.02367-22] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2022] [Accepted: 09/10/2022] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Cyanophages, viruses that infect cyanobacteria, are abundant and widely distributed in aquatic ecosystems, playing important roles in regulating the abundance, activity, diversity, and evolution of cyanobacteria. A T4-like cyanophage, S-SCSM1, infecting Synechococcus and Prochlorococcus strains of different ecotypes, was isolated from the South China Sea in this study. For the first time, a mannose-6-phosphate isomerase (MPI) gene was identified in the cultured cyanophage. At least 11 phylogenetic clusters of cyanophage MPIs were retrieved and identified from the marine metagenomic data sets, indicating that cyanophage MPIs in the marine environment are extremely diverse. The existence of 24 genes encoding 2-oxoglutarate (2OG)-Fe(II) oxygenase superfamily proteins in the S-SCSM1 genome emphasizes their potential importance and diverse functions in reprogramming host metabolism during phage infection. Novel cell wall synthesis and modification genes found in the S-SCSM1 genome indicate that diverse phenotypic modifications imposed by phages on cyanobacterial hosts remain to be discovered. Two noncoding RNAs of cis-regulatory elements in the S-SCSM1 genome were predicted to be associated with host exopolysaccharide metabolism and photosynthesis. The isolation and genomic characterization of cyanophage S-SCSM1 provide more information on the genetic diversity of cyanophages and phage-host interactions in the marine environment. IMPORTANCE Cyanophages play important ecological roles in aquatic ecosystems. Genomic and proteomic characterizations of the T4-like cyanophage S-SCSM1 indicate that novel and diverse viral genes and phage-host interactions in the marine environment remain unexplored. The first identified mannose-6-phosphate isomerase (MPI) gene from a cultured cyanophage was found in the S-SCSM1 genome, although MPIs were previously found in viral metagenomes at high frequencies similar to those of the cyanophage photosynthetic gene psbA. The presence of 24 genes encoding 2-oxoglutarate (2OG)-Fe(II) oxygenase superfamily proteins, novel cell wall synthesis and modification genes, a nonbleaching protein A gene, and 2 noncoding RNAs of cis-regulatory elements in the S-SCSM1 genome as well as the presence of a virion-associated regulatory protein indicate the diverse functions that cyanophages have in reprogramming the metabolism and modifying the phenotypes of hosts during infection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qiong Wang
- Institute of Marine Science and Technology, Shandong University, Qingdao, People’s Republic of China
- State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, College of Ocean and Earth Sciences, Fujian Key Laboratory of Marine Carbon Sequestration, Xiamen University, Xiamen, People’s Republic of China
| | - Lanlan Cai
- Department of Ocean Science, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China
- Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), Zhuhai, People’s Republic of China
| | - Rui Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, College of Ocean and Earth Sciences, Fujian Key Laboratory of Marine Carbon Sequestration, Xiamen University, Xiamen, People’s Republic of China
| | - Shuzhen Wei
- State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, College of Ocean and Earth Sciences, Fujian Key Laboratory of Marine Carbon Sequestration, Xiamen University, Xiamen, People’s Republic of China
| | - Fang Li
- State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Marine Genetic Resource, Third Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Xiamen, People’s Republic of China
| | - Yuanfang Liu
- Institute of Marine Science and Technology, Shandong University, Qingdao, People’s Republic of China
| | - Yongle Xu
- Institute of Marine Science and Technology, Shandong University, Qingdao, People’s Republic of China
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Zhao J, Jing H, Wang Z, Wang L, Jian H, Zhang R, Xiao X, Chen F, Jiao N, Zhang Y. Novel Viral Communities Potentially Assisting in Carbon, Nitrogen, and Sulfur Metabolism in the Upper Slope Sediments of Mariana Trench. mSystems 2022; 7:e0135821. [PMID: 35089086 PMCID: PMC8725595 DOI: 10.1128/msystems.01358-21] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2021] [Accepted: 12/08/2021] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Viruses are ubiquitous in the oceans. Even in the deep sediments of the Mariana Trench, viruses have high productivity. However, little is known about their species composition and survival strategies in that environment. Here, we uncovered novel viral communities (3,206 viral scaffolds) in the upper slope sediments of the Mariana Trench via metagenomic analysis of 15 sediment samples. Most (99%) of the viral scaffolds lack known viral homologs, and ca. 59% of the high-quality viral genomes (total of 111 with completeness of >90%) represent novel genera, including some Phycodnaviridae and jumbo phages. These viruses contain various auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs) potentially involved in organic carbon degradation, inorganic carbon fixation, denitrification, and assimilatory sulfate reduction, etc. This study provides novel insight into the almost unknown benthic viral communities in the Mariana Trench. IMPORTANCE The Mariana Trench harbors a substantial number of infective viral particles. However, very little is known about the identity, survival strategy, and potential functions of viruses in the trench sediments. Here, through metagenomic analysis, unusual benthic viral communities with high diversity and novelty were discovered. Among them, 59% of the viruses with a genome completeness of >90% represent novel genera. Various auxiliary metabolic genes carried by these viruses reflect the potential adaptive characteristics of viruses in this extreme environment and the biogeochemical cycles that they may participate in. This study gives us a deeper understanding of the peculiarities of viral communities in deep-sea/hadal sediments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiulong Zhao
- Key Laboratory of Biofuels, Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Energy Genetics, Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Hongmei Jing
- CAS Key Laboratory for Experimental Study under Deep-Sea Extreme Conditions, Institute of Deep-Sea Science and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sanya, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Zengmeng Wang
- Key Laboratory of Biofuels, Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Energy Genetics, Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Long Wang
- Key Laboratory of Biofuels, Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Energy Genetics, Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, China
- State Key Laboratory for Marine Environmental Science, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
| | - Huahua Jian
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
| | - Rui Zhang
- State Key Laboratory for Marine Environmental Science, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
| | - Xiang Xiao
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
| | - Feng Chen
- University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
| | - Nianzhi Jiao
- State Key Laboratory for Marine Environmental Science, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
| | - Yongyu Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Biofuels, Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Energy Genetics, Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
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Wu R, Davison MR, Nelson WC, Graham EB, Fansler SJ, Farris Y, Bell SL, Godinez I, Mcdermott JE, Hofmockel KS, Jansson JK. DNA Viral Diversity, Abundance, and Functional Potential Vary across Grassland Soils with a Range of Historical Moisture Regimes. mBio 2021;:e0259521. [PMID: 34724822 DOI: 10.1128/mBio.02595-21] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Soil viruses are abundant, but the influence of the environment and climate on soil viruses remains poorly understood. Here, we addressed this gap by comparing the diversity, abundance, lifestyle, and metabolic potential of DNA viruses in three grassland soils with historical differences in average annual precipitation, low in eastern Washington (WA), high in Iowa (IA), and intermediate in Kansas (KS). Bioinformatics analyses were applied to identify a total of 2,631 viral contigs, including 14 complete viral genomes from three deep metagenomes (1 terabase [Tb] each) that were sequenced from bulk soil DNA. An additional three replicate metagenomes (∼0.5 Tb each) were obtained from each location for statistical comparisons. Identified viruses were primarily bacteriophages targeting dominant bacterial taxa. Both viral and host diversity were higher in soil with lower precipitation. Viral abundance was also significantly higher in the arid WA location than in IA and KS. More lysogenic markers and fewer clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) spacer hits were found in WA, reflecting more lysogeny in historically drier soil. More putative auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs) were also detected in WA than in the historically wetter locations. The AMGs occurring in 18 pathways could potentially contribute to carbon metabolism and energy acquisition in their hosts. Structural equation modeling (SEM) suggested that historical precipitation influenced viral life cycle and selection of AMGs. The observed and predicted relationships between soil viruses and various biotic and abiotic variables have value for predicting viral responses to environmental change.
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