Viruses as new agents of organomineralization in the geological record.

Muriel Pacton, David Wacey, Cinzia Corinaldesi, Michael Tangherlini, Matt R Kilburn, Georges E Gorin, Roberto Danovaro, Crisogono Vasconcelos

Journal: Nature communications 2015;5():4298

PMID: 24989676

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Abstract

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.

Address: 1] ETH Zurich, Geological Institute, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland [2] Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon: Terre, Planètes, Environnement UMR CNRS 5276, Universite Lyon 1, 2 rue Raphaël Dubois, 69622 Villeurbanne, France.; 1] Centre for Microscopy, Characterization and Analysis, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia [2] Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Core to Crust Fluid Systems & Centre for Exploration Targeting, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, 6009 Western Australia, Australia.; Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Polytechnic University of Marche, 60131 Ancona, Italy.; Centre for Microscopy, Characterization and Analysis, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia.; Earth Science Section, University of Geneva, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland.; 1] Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Polytechnic University of Marche, 60131 Ancona, Italy [2] Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Villa Comunale, 80121 Naples, Italy.; ETH Zurich, Geological Institute, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland.

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5298

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MeSH Terms: Geologic Sediments, Metagenomics, Microbial Consortia, Microscopy, Electron, Scanning, Microscopy, Electron, Transmission, Minerals, Viruses