Diversity and Potential Interactions of Soil Viruses and Host Bacteria under Different Land Use Patterns

Viruses, as the most abundant entities on earth, play an important role in shaping bacterial communities, mediating gene transfer between host cells, and promoting biogeochemical cycles. Yet, soil viruses remain understudied, as there is a lack of information about the mechanisms of community construction, interactions between viruses and host bacteria, and ecological functions. To expand our understanding of soil viruses, we investigated six viromes across three land use types in northeast and southwestern China, including agricultural and forest soils. We analyzed viral and bacterial community composition and explored their interactions. We utilized metagenomic sequencing technology and high-throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing to study viral and bacterial communities. Twenty-four viral families were detected in six viromes including sixteen dsDNA virus families and eight ssDNA virus families. Viral and bacterial communities were significantly different between various land use types, with viruses having greater disparities. The composition of bacterial communities in soils across different land use types was inconsistent with their viral communities. We identified abundant auxiliary carbohydrate-active enzyme genes from viromes. The results revealed that soil viral communities differ by land use type and that viruses could regulate bacterial carbon cycling processes by encoding auxiliary metabolic genes.