George Muscatt, Ryan Cook, Andrew Millard, Gary D Bending, Eleanor Jameson

To investigate viral communities throughout the soil depth profile, we leveraged a publicly available metagenomic data set sampled from grassland soil in Northern California. In total, 10,196 non-redundant viral operational taxonomic units were recovered from soil between 20 cm and 115 cm below the surface. Viral diversity was assessed at both the population level and strain level to reveal diverse ecological and evolutionary patterns of virus-host interactions in surface and subsurface soils. Investigating viral microdiversity uncovered potential patterns of antagonistic co-evolution across both surface and subsurface soils. We have provided evidence for the potential of soil viruses to augment the remineralization of soil carbon. While we continue to yield a more comprehensive understanding of soil viral ecology, our work appeals to future researchers to further investigate subsurface viral communities.

Microbial Ecology. November 2023