Hawaiian Geothermal Fumaroles Contain Diverse and Novel Viruses

Microbial communities of geothermal habitats are central to understanding the evolution of life on Earth. Metagenomics has provided insight into the role of viruses in shaping microbial diversity of complex environments.

However, identification of novel viruses is constrained by lack of marker genes and low nucleotide similarities between related viral taxa. While microbial and viral diversity have been explored in terrestrial hot springs and hydrothermal vent systems, other volcanic features remain underexplored.

Fumaroles (steam vents) are geothermal features that heat groundwater with magma, releasing steam and volcanic gases such as CO₂ and H₂S. Comparatively physicochemically dynamic to hot springs, fumarole temperatures and gas emissions rapidly fluctuate with volcanic activity.

Here, we describe viruses identified metagenomically from microbial mats hosted near basaltic fumaroles on the Big Island of Hawai`i. To our knowledge, this is the first systematic survey of fumarole viruses. Our utilization of a sensitive profile-based approach for identification reveals high viral diversity in fumaroles, resulting in estimation of two undescribed order-level clades of Caudoviricetes (tailed phages). Viral metabolic genes provide evidence of viral-mediated adaptation of microbes to fumarole conditions.

We describe patterns of viral diversity that diverge from the Bank model of viral ecology, hinting at viral dispersal between biofilms and high viral richness and evenness. Lastly, we provide a description of the first terrestrial geothermal environment dominated by Microviridae, previously only described in viral communities of deep ocean hydrothermal vents. This study offers important findings for exploration of viral ecology in extreme environments.

Hawaiian Geothermal Fumaroles Contain Diverse and Novel Viruses, biorxiv.org (open access)

Astrobiology, genomics, extremophile,