Diversity in the soil virosphere: to infinity and beyond?

Simon Roux; Joanne B Emerson

doi:10.1016/j.tim.2022.05.003

Diversity in the soil virosphere: to infinity and beyond?

Trends Microbiol. 2022 Nov;30(11):1025-1035. doi: 10.1016/j.tim.2022.05.003. Epub 2022 May 26.

Authors

Simon Roux¹, Joanne B Emerson²

Affiliations

¹ DOE (Department of Energy) Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA. Electronic address: sroux@lbl.gov.
² Department of Plant Pathology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA; Genome Center, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA. Electronic address: jbemerson@ucdavis.edu.

PMID: 35644779
DOI: 10.1016/j.tim.2022.05.003

Abstract

Viruses are key members of Earth's microbiomes, shaping microbial community composition and metabolism. Here, we describe recent advances in 'soil viromics', that is, virus-focused metagenome and metatranscriptome analyses that offer unprecedented windows into the soil virosphere. Given the emerging picture of high soil viral activity, diversity, and dynamics over short spatiotemporal scales, we then outline key eco-evolutionary processes that we hypothesize are the major diversity drivers for soil viruses. We argue that a community effort is needed to establish a 'global soil virosphere atlas' that can be used to address the roles of viruses in soil microbiomes and terrestrial biogeochemical cycles across spatiotemporal scales.

Keywords: bacteriophages; metagenomics; soil microbiomes; soil viruses; viral ecology; viromics.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Metagenome
Metagenomics
Soil Microbiology
Soil*
Viruses* / genetics

Substances

Soil