CAREER: Leveraging soil viromics to unravel ecological patterns in complex communities

土壤微生物循环养分维持植物，这些微生物易受病毒感染。在海洋中，病毒每天杀死多达40%的微生物细胞，影响食物网并释放营养物质。一茶匙土壤可以容纳数千种病毒，但病毒在土壤中的作用仍然是一个谜。人们对哪些病毒出现在何地、何时以及为何出现知之甚少。该项目将调查土壤病毒群落在空间和时间上的差异。研究人员将研究含水量如何影响病毒动力学以及如何维持土壤病毒多样性。这项工作需要对大型数据集进行计算分析。一门新的“生物学家生物信息学”课程将为本科生提供这些技能的实践培训。该课程将面向转学生和其他STEM中代表性不足的群体，促进STEM劳动力多样化的发展。该项目将阐明加州大学戴维斯分校杰普森草原自然保护区土壤病毒的时空动态。利用病毒组学（病毒大小部分的元基因组学），土壤病毒群落生物地理学和演变模式将在两个经历不同混合量的草地栖息地内和之间进行比较。病毒在季节性干燥土壤中的生存之谜将被探讨，以检验病毒休眠和种子库在维持土壤病毒多样性中的作用。首先，研究人员将建立两种草地生境土壤病毒群落的本地生物地理格局，并评估其距离衰减关系。接下来，他们将在分散有限和混合良好的土壤中比较年内和年际病毒群落在空间上的演替模式。最后，他们将应用一套DNA测序和实验方法来识别干燥土壤中细胞和非细胞部分的病毒。该项目还将试点一门本科生生物信息学课程，包括由博士后研究人员共同领导的动手计算分析模块。除了为本科生提供培训和研究机会外，本课程还将促进博士后导师的教学培训。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Soil microbes cycle nutrients that sustain plants, and these microbes are susceptible to viral infection. In the oceans, viruses kill up to 40% of microbial cells daily, impacting food webs and releasing nutrients. A teaspoon of soil can harbor thousands of viral species, but the role of viruses in soil remains a mystery. Little is known about which viruses are where, when, or why. This project will investigate how soil viral communities differ over space and time. The researchers will study how water content affects viral dynamics and how soil viral diversity is maintained. This work will require computational analyses of large datasets. A new ‘Bioinformatics for Biologists’ course will provide undergraduate students with hands-on training in these skills. The course will reach transfer students and other underrepresented groups in STEM, promoting the development of a diverse STEM workforce.This project will elucidate the spatiotemporal dynamics of soil viruses at the UC Davis Jepson Prairie Natural Reserve near Davis, CA. Using viromics (metagenomics of the viral size fraction), soil viral community biogeography and successional patterns will be compared within and across two grassland habitats that experience different amounts of mixing. The mystery of viral survival in seasonally dry soils will be explored to examine the roles of viral dormancy and seed banks in maintaining soil viral diversity. First, the researchers will establish local biogeographical patterns and evaluate the distance-decay relationship for soil viral communities in two grassland habitats. Next, they will compare intra- and inter-annual viral community successional patterns over space in dispersal-limited and well-mixed soils. Finally, they will apply a suite of DNA sequencing and experimental approaches to identify viruses in the cellular and acellular fractions of dry soils. This project will also pilot an undergraduate bioinformatics course, consisting of hands-on computational analysis modules co-led by teams of postdoctoral researchers. In addition to training and research opportunities for undergraduates, the course will facilitate pedagogical training for the postdoctoral instructors.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.