Major viral impact on the functioning of benthic deep-sea ecosystems
Major viral impact on the functioning of benthic deep-sea ecosystems
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DOI：
10.1038/nature07268
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发表时间：
2008-08-28
期刊：
影响因子：
64.8
通讯作者：
Weinbauer, Markus
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Danovaro, Roberto;Dell'Anno, Antonio;Weinbauer, Markus
病毒是世界海洋中最丰富的生物有机体。病毒感染是一系列生物死亡的重要原因-包括自养和异养浮游生物-但它们对深海和底栖生物圈的影响完全未知。在这里，我们报告说，全球深海底栖生态系统中的病毒产量极高，病毒感染是减少80%的原核异养生产的原因。病毒诱导的原核生物死亡率随水深增加而增加，在1,000米以下，几乎所有的原核生物异养产物都转化为有机碎屑。病毒分流每年在全球范围内释放的碳量约为0.37 - 0.63亿吨，是深海生态系统中不稳定有机碎屑的重要来源。这一过程维持了很高的原核生物量，并为原核生物的新陈代谢作出了重要贡献，使该系统能够科普深海生态系统有机资源的严重限制。我们的研究结果表明，病毒在全球生物地球化学循环、深海新陈代谢和我们生物圈最大生态系统的整体功能中发挥着重要作用。
Viruses are the most abundant biological organisms of the world's oceans. Viral infections are a substantial source of mortality in a range of organisms - including autotrophic and heterotrophic plankton - but their impact on the deep ocean and benthic biosphere is completely unknown. Here we report that viral production in deep- sea benthic ecosystems worldwide is extremely high, and that viral infections are responsible for the abatement of 80% of prokaryotic heterotrophic production. Virus- induced prokaryotic mortality increases with increasing water depth, and beneath a depth of 1,000 m nearly all of the prokaryotic heterotrophic production is transformed into organic detritus. The viral shunt, releasing on a global scale similar to 0.37 - 0.63 gigatonnes of carbon per year, is an essential source of labile organic detritus in the deep- sea ecosystems. This process sustains a high prokaryotic biomass and provides an important contribution to prokaryotic metabolism, allowing the system to cope with the severe organic resource limitation of deep- sea ecosystems. Our results indicate that viruses have an important role in global biogeochemical cycles, in deep- sea metabolism and the overall functioning of the largest ecosystem of our biosphere.