Breitbart Mya, Rohwer Forest
Biology Department, LS301, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Dr, San Diego, CA 92182 USA.
Trends Microbiol. 2005 Jun;13(6):278-84. doi: 10.1016/j.tim.2005.04.003.
There are an estimated 10(31) viruses on Earth, most of which are phages that infect bacteria. Metagenomic analyses have shown that environmental viral communities are incredibly diverse. There are an estimated 5000 viral genotypes in 200 liters of seawater and possibly a million different viral genotypes in one kilogram of marine sediment. By contrast, some culturing and molecular studies have found that viruses move between different biomes. Together, these findings suggest that viral diversity could be high on a local scale but relatively limited globally. Also, by moving between environments, viruses can facilitate horizontal gene transfer.
据估计，地球上存在10³¹种病毒，其中大多数是感染细菌的噬菌体。宏基因组分析表明，环境病毒群落极其多样。在200升海水中估计有5000种病毒基因型，在1千克海洋沉积物中可能有100万种不同的病毒基因型。相比之下，一些培养和分子研究发现病毒会在不同生物群落之间移动。这些发现共同表明，病毒多样性在局部范围内可能很高，但在全球范围内相对有限。此外，通过在不同环境之间移动，病毒可以促进水平基因转移。
