Tran Patricia Q, Anantharaman Karthik
Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
Department of Integrative Biology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
mSystems. 2021 Oct 26;6(5):e0113821. doi: 10.1128/mSystems.01138-21. Epub 2021 Oct 12.
Viruses are ubiquitous on Earth and are keystone components of environments, ecosystems, and human health. Yet, viruses remain poorly studied because most cannot be isolated in a laboratory. In the field of biogeochemistry, which aims to understand the interactions between biology, geology, and chemistry, there is progress to be made in understanding the different roles played by viruses in nutrient cycling, food webs, and elemental transformations. In this commentary, we outline current microbial ecology frameworks for understanding biogeochemical cycling in aquatic ecosystems. Next, we review some existing experimental and computational techniques that are enabling us to study the role of viruses in biogeochemical cycling, using examples from aquatic environments. Finally, we provide a conceptual model that balances limitations of computational tools when combined with biogeochemistry and ecological data. We envision meeting the grand challenge of understanding how viruses impact biogeochemical cycling by using a multifaceted approach to viral ecology.
病毒在地球上无处不在，是环境、生态系统和人类健康的关键组成部分。然而，由于大多数病毒无法在实验室中分离出来，因此对它们的研究仍然很少。在旨在理解生物学、地质学和化学之间相互作用的生物地球化学领域，在了解病毒在营养循环、食物网和元素转化中所起的不同作用方面仍有进展空间。在这篇评论中，我们概述了当前用于理解水生生态系统中生物地球化学循环的微生物生态学框架。接下来，我们回顾一些现有的实验和计算技术，这些技术使我们能够利用来自水生环境的例子来研究病毒在生物地球化学循环中的作用。最后，我们提供了一个概念模型，该模型平衡了计算工具与生物地球化学和生态数据结合时的局限性。我们设想通过采用多方面的病毒生态学方法来应对理解病毒如何影响生物地球化学循环这一重大挑战。
