Amazing stuff! Evolution in geothermal hot springs and thermophily!
"A large-scale genetic analysis of a seething, microbe-rich hot spring in Yellowstone National Park suggests so-called “giant viruses” may have helped drive early steps in the evolution of complex cells. Biologists have already found giant viruses in the deep sea and hiding in the genomes of red algae. But in one Yellowstone hot spring, they not only make up the majority of viruses, but they have likely been associated with the red algae they infect for about 1.5 billion years, genome scientists reported yesterday Communications Biology.
Because hot springs come and go over geological time, the researchers assumed viruses would as well, and therefore would not be very old. But the virus’ proteins and genomes bore the hallmarks of a longtime hot spring dweller, and they seem to have branched off the viral family tree very early. Many hot spring inhabitants have borrowed genes from bacteria to cope with the heat and toxins in these environments, and the giant viruses, which readily take up foreign DNA and pass it on to their hosts, may have been crucial middlemen. In that role, “the viruses likely play an important role in the long-term stability of the hot spring communities,” ..."
From the abstract:
"Geothermal springs house unicellular red algae in the class Cyanidiophyceae that dominate the microbial biomass at these sites. Little is known about host-virus interactions in these environments. We analyzed the virus community associated with red algal mats in three neighboring habitats (creek, endolithic, soil) at Lemonade Creek, Yellowstone National Park (YNP), USA. We find that despite proximity, each habitat houses a unique collection of viruses, with the giant viruses, Megaviricetes, dominant in all three. The early branching phylogenetic position of genes encoded on metagenome assembled virus genomes (vMAGs) suggests that the YNP lineages are of ancient origin and not due to multiple invasions from mesophilic habitats. The existence of genomic footprints of adaptation to thermophily in the vMAGs is consistent with this idea. The Cyanidiophyceae at geothermal sites originated ca. 1.5 Bya and are therefore relevant to understanding biotic interactions on the early Earth."
Giant viruses played a key role in early life, study in Yellowstone hot spring suggests DNA analyses reveal viruses have infected red algae—and spurred evolution—for at least 1.5 billion years
Hot springs viruses at Yellowstone National Park have ancient origins and are adapted to thermophilic hosts (open access)
In Yellowstone National Park, samples from algal mats (green) and nearby soil and rocks yielded DNA from thousands of new giant viruses
Fig. 2: Functions encoded by virus genomes at [Yellowstone National Park], considering the top 10 most frequent annotations
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