Hu Chang, Lu Jia-Nan, Chen Ziwu, Tian Li, Yin Yalin, Jiang Gengbo, Fei Ying-Heng, Tang Ye-Tao, Wang Shizhong, Jin Chao, Qiu Rongliang, Chao Yuanqing
School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution Control and Remediation Technology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510006, PR China.
School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, PR China.
Water Res. 2025 Aug 1;281:123666. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2025.123666. Epub 2025 Apr 16.
In extreme environments, viruses play a crucial role in regulating the structure and metabolic activities of microbial communities, thereby impacting the overall biogeochemical cycles. Previous research found that rare earth element acid mine drainage (REE-AMD) harbors a wide array of microbial species. However, our understanding of the viruses that infect these microorganisms remains limited. In this study, we utilized metagenomic analysis to explore the viral diversity, interactions between viruses and their hosts, as well as the viruses encoded auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs) within REE-AMD. The results demonstrated that viral communities showed increased diversity with REEs pollution. Furthermore, AMGs exhibited habitat and host specificity. Viruses in water samples contaminated with REEs tended to encode AMGs related to cellular metabolic processes and stress responses to protect their hosts. In contrast, viruses in sediment samples were more likely to encode AMGs associated with nutrient competition, thereby expanding the ecological niches of hosts and viruses. Viruses would carry more AMGs from the dominant prokaryotes. Additionally, under REEs stress, viruses encode a greater number of carbon- and sulfur-related AMGs, influencing the carbon and sulfur cycles of microorganisms in REE-AMD. Overall, our study provides a first systematic characterization of the viral community in REE-AMD, which is crucial for understanding the intricate interactions among viruses, their hosts, and the surrounding environment.
在极端环境中，病毒在调节微生物群落的结构和代谢活动方面发挥着关键作用，从而影响整体生物地球化学循环。先前的研究发现，稀土元素酸性矿山排水（REE-AMD）中存在各种各样的微生物物种。然而，我们对感染这些微生物的病毒的了解仍然有限。在本研究中，我们利用宏基因组分析来探索REE-AMD中的病毒多样性、病毒与其宿主之间的相互作用，以及病毒编码的辅助代谢基因（AMG）。结果表明，病毒群落的多样性随着稀土元素污染的增加而增加。此外，AMG表现出栖息地和宿主特异性。受稀土元素污染的水样中的病毒倾向于编码与细胞代谢过程和应激反应相关的AMG，以保护其宿主。相比之下，沉积物样本中的病毒更有可能编码与营养竞争相关的AMG，从而扩大宿主和病毒的生态位。病毒会从优势原核生物中携带更多的AMG。此外，在稀土元素胁迫下，病毒编码更多与碳和硫相关的AMG，影响REE-AMD中微生物的碳和硫循环。总体而言，我们的研究首次对REE-AMD中的病毒群落进行了系统表征，这对于理解病毒、其宿主和周围环境之间的复杂相互作用至关重要。
