TY - JOUR
T1 - Viruses as new agents of organomineralization in the geological record
AU - Pacton, Muriel
AU - Wacey, David
AU - Corinaldesi, Cinzia
AU - Tangherlini, Michael
AU - Kilburn, Matt R.
AU - Gorin, Georges E.
AU - Danovaro, Roberto
AU - Vasconcelos, Crisogono
PY - 2014/7/3
Y1 - 2014/7/3
N2 - Viruses are the most abundant biological entities throughout marine and terrestrial ecosystems, but little is known about virus-mineral interactions or the potential for virus preservation in the geological record. Here we use contextual metagenomic data and microscopic analyses to show that viruses occur in high diversity within a modern lacustrine microbial mat, and vastly outnumber prokaryotes and other components of the microbial mat. Experimental data reveal that mineral precipitation takes place directly on free viruses and, as a result of viral infections, on cell debris resulting from cell lysis. Viruses are initially permineralized by amorphous magnesium silicates, which then alter to magnesium carbonate nanospheres of ∼80-200 nm in diameter during diagenesis. Our findings open up the possibility to investigate the evolution and geological history of viruses and their role in organomineralization, as well as providing an alternative explanation for enigmatic carbonate nanospheres previously observed in the geological record.
AB - Viruses are the most abundant biological entities throughout marine and terrestrial ecosystems, but little is known about virus-mineral interactions or the potential for virus preservation in the geological record. Here we use contextual metagenomic data and microscopic analyses to show that viruses occur in high diversity within a modern lacustrine microbial mat, and vastly outnumber prokaryotes and other components of the microbial mat. Experimental data reveal that mineral precipitation takes place directly on free viruses and, as a result of viral infections, on cell debris resulting from cell lysis. Viruses are initially permineralized by amorphous magnesium silicates, which then alter to magnesium carbonate nanospheres of ∼80-200 nm in diameter during diagenesis. Our findings open up the possibility to investigate the evolution and geological history of viruses and their role in organomineralization, as well as providing an alternative explanation for enigmatic carbonate nanospheres previously observed in the geological record.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84904017450&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/ncomms5298
DO - 10.1038/ncomms5298
M3 - Article (Academic Journal)
C2 - 24989676
AN - SCOPUS:84904017450
VL - 5
JO - Nature Communications
JF - Nature Communications
SN - 2041-1723
M1 - 4298
ER -