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Successional patterns of virus–host interactions and viral functional potential in the soil plastisphere
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A lab experiment tracked microbial and viral communities growing on microplastics buried in soil over time. The microbes and viruses changed in organized patterns as time passed, with incubation time mattering more than the type of plastic, and certain viruses carried genes linked to biofilm formation.
Plastispheres are microbial communities associated with microplastic surfaces, with ecological consequences that may extend into the surrounding environment. Although temporal succession of plastisphere microbial communities has increasingly been documented, how viruses are organized relative to host succession and how viral functional potential varies across successional stages remain poorly resolved, particularly in soils. We investigate temporal changes in soil plastisphere microbiomes and viral communities through a time-resolved microcosm experiment combined with global plastisphere metagenomic data. Our work reveals that the soil plastisphere is not a static site of microbial enrichment but a temporally structured virus–host habitat. Incubation time has a stronger effect than polymer type on plastisphere community, and genome-resolved analyses revealed microbial lineages with distinct successional patterns, phylogenetic affiliations and functional potentials. Plastisphere viruses are embedded within this successional structure, with virus–host linkages concentrated in specific host lineages and successional modules. Curated biofilm-related viral auxiliary metabolic genes were associated with successional host lineages and were enriched across global plastisphere metagenomes. Overall, our work shows that viruses are integrated into the succession of soil plastisphere microbiomes and thus reinforces the need to consider successional dynamics and viral contributions when assessing the long-term ecological consequences of microplastic residues in soils.
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