Viromes outperform total metagenomes in revealing the spatiotemporal patterns of agricultural soil viral communities.

ABSTRACT: Viruses are abundant yet understudied members of soil environments that influence terrestrial biogeochemical cycles. Here, we characterized the dsDNA viral diversity in biochar-amended agricultural soils at the preplanting and harvesting stages of a tomato growing season via paired total metagenomes and viral size fraction metagenomes (viromes). Size fractionation prior to DNA extraction reduced sources of nonviral DNA in viromes, enabling the recovery of a vaster richness of viral populations (vOTUs), greater viral taxonomic diversity, broader range of predicted hosts, and better access to the rare virosphere, relative to total metagenomes, which tended to recover only the most persistent and abundant vOTUs. Of 2961 detected vOTUs, 2684 were recovered exclusively from viromes, while only

SUBMITTER: Santos-Medellin C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8245658 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature