Virus-Host Dynamics in Archaeal Groundwater Biofilms and the Associated Bacterial Community CompositionShow others and affiliations
2023 (English)In: Viruses, E-ISSN 1999-4915, Vol. 15, no 4, article id 910Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Spatial and temporal distribution of lytic viruses in deep groundwater remains unexplored so far. Here, we tackle this gap of knowledge by studying viral infections of Altivir_1_MSI in biofilms dominated by the uncultivated host Candidatus Altiarchaeum hamiconexum sampled from deep anoxic groundwater over a period of four years. Using virus-targeted direct-geneFISH (virusFISH) whose detection efficiency for individual viral particles was 15%, we show a significant and steady increase of virus infections from 2019 to 2022. Based on fluorescence micrographs of individual biofilm flocks, we determined different stages of viral infections in biofilms for single sampling events, demonstrating the progression of infection of biofilms in deep groundwater. Biofilms associated with many host cells undergoing lysis showed a substantial accumulation of filamentous microbes around infected cells probably feeding off host cell debris. Using 16S rRNA gene sequencing across ten individual biofilm flocks from one sampling event, we determined that the associated bacterial community remains relatively constant and was dominated by sulfate-reducing members affiliated with Desulfobacterota. Given the stability of the virus-host interaction in these deep groundwater samples, we postulate that the uncultivated virus-host system described herein represents a suitable model system for studying deep biosphere virus-host interactions in future research endeavors.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
MDPI, 2023. Vol. 15, no 4, article id 910
Keywords [en]
deep biosphere, subsurface viruses, Altiarchaeota, fluorescence in situ hybridization, virusFISH, direct-geneFISH, microbial heterogeneity
National Category
Microbiology Ecology
Research subject
Ecology, Microbiology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-120955DOI: 10.3390/v15040910ISI: 000977810500001PubMedID: 37112890Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85156198865OAI: oai:DiVA.org:lnu-120955DiVA, id: diva2:1759704
2023-05-262023-05-262024-01-17Bibliographically approved