Viral Ecogenomics of Arctic Cryopeg Brine and Sea Ice

This study explores viral community structure and function in remote and extreme Arctic environments, including subzero brines within marine layers of permafrost and sea ice, using a modern viral ecogenomics toolkit for the first time. In addition to providing foundational data sets for these climat...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:mSystems
Main Authors: Zhong, Zhi-Ping, Rapp, Josephine Z., Wainaina, James M., Solonenko, Natalie E., Maughan, Heather, Carpenter, Shelly D., Cooper, Zachary S., Jang, Ho Bin, Bolduc, Benjamin, Deming, Jody W., Sullivan, Matthew B.
Other Authors: Emerson, Joanne B., U.S. Department of Energy, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, OSU | Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, Ohio State University
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: American Society for Microbiology 2020
Subjects:
Arctic
Ice
permafrost
Sea ice
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/msystems.00246-20
https://journals.asm.org/doi/pdf/10.1128/mSystems.00246-20
Description
Summary:This study explores viral community structure and function in remote and extreme Arctic environments, including subzero brines within marine layers of permafrost and sea ice, using a modern viral ecogenomics toolkit for the first time. In addition to providing foundational data sets for these climate-threatened habitats, we found evidence that the viruses had habitat specificity, infected dominant microbial hosts, encoded host-derived metabolic genes, and mediated horizontal gene transfer among hosts. These results advance our understanding of the virosphere and how viruses influence extreme ecosystems. More broadly, the evidence that virally mediated gene transfers may be limited by host range in these extreme habitats contributes to a mechanistic understanding of genetic exchange among microbes under stressful conditions in other systems.

Similar Items