ArticleMicrobiome2024
Prokaryotic-virus-encoded auxiliary metabolic genes throughout the global oceans.
Article in Microbiome, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 35 papers.
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Who cites it
35 citing papers in PubMed.
- The planktonic microbiome of the Great Barrier Reef.Nature · 2026Article
- Hawaiian geothermal fumaroles contain diverse and novel viruses.Microbiology spectrum · 2026Article
- Evolving strategies for virus discovery.Microbial genomics · 2026Review
- Viruses help shape microbiome response to polyphenol rewiring of methane-suppressed peat microcosms.PLoS biology · 2026Article
- Salinity-driven adaptations and evolution of DNA viruses in estuarine-coastal ecosystems.mSystems · 2026Article
- Review
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- Alternating High-Fat and Polysaccharide Diets Modulates Gut Phage-Bacterial Interplay.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- V- and VNature communications · 2026Article
- Hawaiian Geothermal Fumaroles Contain Diverse and Novel Viruses.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Comparative morphological, genomic, and functional characterization of two newly isolated lytic caudoviricetes phages targeting Escherichia coli and Salmonella.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Diversity and ecological potential of sediment viruses from Chinese continental shelf seas.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2026Article
- Global genomic diversity of temperate P2-like viruses.Communications biology · 2026Article
- Sub-daily virus sampling at the Bermuda Atlantic Time Series reveals diel and depth-structured population dynamics without community-level shifts.PLoS biology · 2026Article
- Diversity and ecological roles of hidden viral players in groundwater microbiomes.Nature communications · 2026Article
- VIRE: a metagenome-derived, planetary-scale virome resource with environmental context.Nucleic acids research · 2026Article
- Comparative virome analysis of lake and domestic wastewater revealed the unexpected presence of swine acute diarrhea syndrome coronavirus andFrontiers in microbiology · 2026Article
- Diversity and Ecological Potentials of Marine Viruses Inhabiting Continental Shelf Seas.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Virus-encoded metabolism may support environmental stress adaptation of microbial hosts in an estuarine hypoxic zone.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Article
- Viral Dark Matter: Illuminating Protein Function, Ecology, and Biotechnological Promises.Biochemistry · 2025Review
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13 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundProkaryotic microbes have impacted marine biogeochemical cycles for billions of years. Viruses also impact these cycles, through lysis, horizontal gene transfer, and encoding and expressing genes that contribute to metabolic reprogramming of prokaryotic cells. While this impact is difficult to quantify in nature, we hypothesized that it can be examined by surveying virus-encoded auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs) and assessing their ecological context.
resultsWe systematically developed a global ocean AMG catalog by integrating previously described and newly identified AMGs and then placed this catalog into ecological and metabolic contexts relevant to ocean biogeochemistry. From 7.6 terabases of Tara Oceans paired prokaryote- and virus-enriched metagenomic sequence data, we increased known ocean virus populations to 579,904 (up 16%). From these virus populations, we then conservatively identified 86,913 AMGs that grouped into 22,779 sequence-based gene clusters, 7248 (~ 32%) of which were not previously reported. Using our catalog and modeled data from mock communities, we estimate that ~ 19% of ocean virus populations carry at least one AMG. To understand AMGs in their metabolic context, we identified 340 metabolic pathways encoded by ocean microbes and showed that AMGs map to 128 of them. Furthermore, we identified metabolic "hot spots" targeted by virus AMGs, including nine pathways where most steps (≥ 0.75) were AMG-targeted (involved in carbohydrate, amino acid, fatty acid, and nucleotide metabolism), as well as other pathways where virus-encoded AMGs outnumbered cellular homologs (involved in lipid A phosphates, phosphatidylethanolamine, creatine biosynthesis, phosphoribosylamine-glycine ligase, and carbamoyl-phosphate synthase pathways).
conclusionsTogether, this systematically curated, global ocean AMG catalog and analyses provide a valuable resource and foundational observations to understand the role of viruses in modulating global ocean metabolisms and their biogeochemical implications. Video Abstract.
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