Many fundamental characteristics of soil viruses remain underexplored, including the effects of high temperatures on viruses and their hosts, as would be encountered under disturbances like wildland fire, prescribed burning, and soil solarization. In this study, we leveraged three data types (DNase-treated viromes, non-DNase-treated viromes, and 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing) to measure the responses of soil viral and prokaryotic communities to heating to 30ºC, 60ºC, or 90ºC, in comparison to field and control conditions. We investigated (1) the response of dsDNA viral communities to heating of soils from two horizons (O and A) from the same forest soil profile, (2) the extent to which specific viral taxa could be identified as heat-sensitive or heat-tolerant across replicates and soil horizons, and (3) prokaryotic and virus-host dynamics in response to heating. We found that both viral and prokaryotic communities responded similarly to the treatment variables. Community composition differed most significantly by soil source (O or A horizon). Within both soil horizons, viral and prokaryotic communities clustered into three groups, based on beta-diversity patterns: the ambient community (field, control, and 30ºC samples) and the 60ºC and 90ºC communities. As DNase-treated viromic DNA yields were below detection limits at 90ºC, we infer that most viral capsids were compromised after the 90ºC treatment, indicating a maximum temperature threshold between 60ºC and 90ºC for most viral particles in these soils. We also identified groups of heat-tolerant and heat-sensitive vOTUs across both soil sources. Overall, we found that over 70% of viral populations, like their prokaryotic counterparts, could withstand temperatures as high as 60ºC, with shifts in relative abundance explaining most community compositional differences across heating treatments.

中文翻译：

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病毒组对森林土壤加热的反应表明，大多数 dsDNA 病毒颗粒在 90°C 下不会持续存在


土壤病毒的许多基本特征仍未得到充分探索，包括高温对病毒及其宿主的影响，就像在野火、计划燃烧和土壤日晒等干扰下会遇到的那样。在这项研究中，我们利用三种数据类型 （DNase 处理的病毒组、非 DNase 处理的病毒组和 16S rRNA 基因扩增子测序） 来测量土壤病毒和原核生物群落对加热到 30ºC、60ºC 或 90ºC 的响应，与田间和对照条件相比。我们研究了 （1） dsDNA 病毒群落对来自同一森林土壤剖面的两个水平（O 和 A）土壤加热的响应，（2） 特定病毒分类群在重复和土壤水平上被鉴定为热敏或耐热的程度，以及 （3） 原核生物和病毒宿主对加热的动力学。我们发现病毒和原核生物群落对治疗变量的反应相似。群落组成因土壤来源 （O 或 A 层） 而异。在两个土壤层中，病毒和原核生物群落根据 β 多样性模式分为三组：环境群落（田间、对照和 30ºC 样本）以及 60ºC 和 90ºC 群落。由于 DNase 处理的病毒 DNA 产量在 90ºC 时低于检测限，我们推断大多数病毒衣壳在 90ºC 处理后受到损害，表明这些土壤中大多数病毒颗粒的最高温度阈值在 60ºC 和 90ºC 之间。我们还在两种土壤来源中确定了耐热和热敏 vOTU 组。 总体而言，我们发现超过 70% 的病毒种群，如原核生物种群，可以承受高达 60ºC 的温度，相对丰度的变化解释了加热处理之间的大多数群落组成差异。