Virus-mediated archaeal hecatomb in the deep seafloor

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  • Danovaro, Roberto
    • Other Affiliation: Department of Life and Environmental Sciences; Polytechnic University of Marche
  • Dell'anno, Antonio
    • Other Affiliation: Department of Life and Environmental Sciences; Polytechnic University of Marche
  • Corinaldesi, Cinzia
    • Other Affiliation: Department of Life and Environmental Sciences; Polytechnic University of Marche
  • Rastelli, Eugenio
    • Other Affiliation: Department of Life and Environmental Sciences; Polytechnic University of Marche
  • Cavicchioli, Ricardo
    • Other Affiliation: School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences; University of New SouthWales
  • Krupovic, Mart
    • Other Affiliation: Unité de Biologie Moléculaire Du Gène Chez les Extrêmophiles; Institut Pasteur
  • Noble, Rachel T.
    • Affiliation: Institute of Marine Sciences
  • Nunoura, Takuro
    • Other Affiliation: Institute of Biogeosciences; Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology
  • Prangishvili, David
    • Other Affiliation: Unité de Biologie Moléculaire Du Gène Chez les Extrêmophiles; Institut Pasteur
Abstract
  • Viruses are the most abundant biological entities in the world’s oceans, and they play a crucial role in global biogeochemical cycles. In deep-sea ecosystems, archaea and bacteria drive major nutrient cycles, and viruses are largely responsible for their mortality, thereby exerting important controls on microbial dynamics. However, the relative impact of viruses on archaea compared to bacteria is unknown, limiting our understanding of the factors controlling the functioning of marine systems at a global scale. We evaluate the selectivity of viral infections by using several independent approaches, including an innovative molecular method based on the quantification of archaeal versus bacterial genes released by viral lysis. We provide evidence that, in all oceanic surface sediments (from 1000- to 10,000-m water depth), the impact of viral infection is higher on archaea than on bacteria. We also found that, within deep-sea benthic archaea, the impact of viruses was mainly directed at members of specific clades of Marine Group I Thaumarchaeota. Although archaea represent, on average, ~12% of the total cell abundance in the top 50 cm of sediment, virus-induced lysis of archaea accounts for up to one-third of the total microbial biomass killed, resulting in the release of ~0.3 to 0.5 gigatons of carbon per year globally. Our results indicate that viral infection represents a key mechanism controlling the turnover of archaea in surface deep-sea sediments. We conclude that interactions between archaea and their viruses might play a profound, previously underestimated role in the functioning of deep-sea ecosystems and in global biogeochemical cycles.
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  • Article
Rights statement
  • In Copyright
Journal title
  • Science Advances
Journal volume
  • 2
Journal issue
  • 10
Page start
  • e1600492
Page end
  • e1600492
Language
  • English
ISSN
  • 2375-2548

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