ECOMARE, CESAM-Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies, Departament of Biology, University of Aveiro, Campus de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal.
Section for Applied Marine Ecology and Modelling, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Frederiksborgvej 399, 4000 Roskilde, Denmark.
FEMS Microbiol Ecol. 2020 Oct 28;96(11). doi: 10.1093/femsec/fiaa187.
Microbial mats are compacted, surface-associated microbial ecosystems reminiscent of the first living communities on early Earth. While often considered predominantly prokaryotic, recent findings show that both fungi and viruses are ubiquitous in microbial mats, albeit their functional roles remain unknown. Fungal research has mostly focused on terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems where fungi are known as important recyclers of organic matter, whereas viruses are exceptionally abundant and important in aquatic ecosystems. Here, viruses have shown to affect organic matter cycling and the diversity of microbial communities by facilitating horizontal gene transfer and cell lysis. We hypothesise fungi and viruses to have similar roles in microbial mats. Based on the analysis of previous research in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, we outline novel hypotheses proposing strong impacts of fungi and viruses on element cycling, food web structure and function in microbial mats, and outline experimental approaches for studies needed to understand these interactions.
微生物垫是一种紧密堆积的、表面附着的微生物生态系统，使人联想到早期地球上最早的生命群落。虽然微生物垫通常被认为主要是原核生物，但最近的发现表明真菌和病毒在微生物垫中普遍存在，尽管它们的功能作用尚不清楚。真菌研究主要集中在陆地和淡水生态系统中，在这些生态系统中，真菌被认为是有机物质的重要回收者，而病毒在水生生态系统中异常丰富和重要。在这里，病毒通过促进水平基因转移和细胞裂解，显示出影响有机物质循环和微生物群落多样性的作用。我们假设真菌和病毒在微生物垫中具有相似的作用。基于对陆地和水生生态系统中先前研究的分析，我们提出了一些新的假设，即真菌和病毒对元素循环、食物网结构和功能有强烈的影响，概述了为理解这些相互作用而需要进行的研究的实验方法。
