원문정보
초록
영어
Ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) from the phylum Thaumarchaeota are ubiquitous in marine ecosystems and play an important role in the carbon and nitrogen cycling. Although viruses are known to have a key impact on the functioning and mortality of their hosts, thereby regulating the global biogeochemical cycles, not a single virus infecting thaumarchaea has been isolated thus far. Here we report on the isolation and characterization of the Nitrosopumilus spindle-shaped viruses (NSV) which infect a marine AOA and are distinct from other known marine viruses. Their morphology, genome architecture and life cycle indicate that they are distantly related to spindle-shaped viruses infecting hyperthermophilic and hyperhalophilic archaea. However, NSVs do not share appreciable sequence similarity to other archaeal viruses, except for the protein-primed family B DNA polymerase, and are likely to represent a new virus family. NSVs have high adsorption rate to host cells and are not lytic. These properties might be important for the predation on chemolithoautotrophic hosts in resource-poor environments. We show that NSV infection results in cessation of ammonia oxidation, although host cells are not lysed. Widespread distribution of NSV in marine sediments indicates that viral predation regulates the diversity and dynamics in the AOA community.