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Saline lakes on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau harbor unique viral assemblages mediating microbial environmental adaption

Gu C 1 , Liang Y 1 , Li J 2 , Shao H 1 , Jiang Y 1 , Zhou X 1 Show all authors , Gao C 1 , Li X 1 , Zhang W 1 , Guo C 1 , He H 1 , Wang H 1 , Sung YY 3 , Mok WJ 3 , Wong LL 3 , Suttle CA 4 , McMinn A 1 , Tian J 5 , Wang M 1

Affiliations 

  • 1 College of Marine Life Sciences, Institute of Evolution and Marine Biodiversity, Frontiers Science Center for Deep Ocean Multispheres and Earth System, and Key Lab of Polar Oceanography and Global Ocean Change, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China
  • 2 Key Laboratory of Comprehensive and Highly Efficient Utilization of Salt Lake Resources, Qinghai Institute of Salt Lakes, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining 810008, China
  • 3 UMT-OUC Joint Center for Marine Studies, Qingdao 266003, China
  • 4 Departments of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Microbiology and Immunology, and Botany and Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada
  • 5 Frontiers Science Center for Deep Ocean Multispheres and Earth System, and Key Laboratory of Physical Oceanography, Ministry of Education, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266100, China
iScience, 2021 Dec 17;24(12):103439.
PMID: 34988389 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.103439

Abstract

The highest plateau on Earth, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, contains thousands of lakes with broad salinity and diverse and unique microbial communities. However, little is known about their co-occurring viruses. Herein, we identify 4,560 viral Operational Taxonomic Units (vOTUs) from six viromes of three saline lakes on Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, with less than 1% that could be classified. Most of the predicted vOTUs were associated with the dominant bacterial and archaeal phyla. Virus-encoded auxiliary metabolic genes suggest that viruses influence microbial metabolisms of carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, and lipid; the antibiotic resistance mediation; and their salinity adaption. The six viromes clustered together with the ice core viromes and bathypelagic ocean viromes and might represent a new viral habitat. This study has revealed the unique characteristics and potential ecological roles of DNA viromes in the lakes of the highest plateau and established a foundation for the recognition of the viral roles in plateau lake ecosystems.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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