Host-linked soil viral ecology along a permafrost thaw gradient.

ABSTRACT: 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^1-7. The role of viruses, which are known to affect microbial dynamics, metabolism and biogeochemistry in the oceans^8-10, 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

SUBMITTER: Emerson JB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6786970 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature