title: Viruses as new agents of organomineralization in the geological record.
abstract: Viruses are the most abundant biological entities throughout marine and terrestrial ecosystems, but little is known about virus-mineral interactions or the potential for virus preservation in the geological record. Here we use contextual metagenomic data and microscopic analyses to show that viruses occur in high diversity within a modern lacustrine microbial mat, and vastly outnumber prokaryotes and other components of the microbial mat. Experimental data reveal that mineral precipitation takes place directly on free viruses and, as a result of viral infections, on cell debris resulting from cell lysis. Viruses are initially permineralized by amorphous magnesium silicates, which then alter to magnesium carbonate nanospheres of ~80-200 nm in diameter during diagenesis. Our findings open up the possibility to investigate the evolution and geological history of viruses and their role in organomineralization, as well as providing an alternative explanation for enigmatic carbonate nanospheres previously observed in the geological record.
authors.affiliation: 1] ETH Zurich, Geological Institute, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland [2] Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon: Terre, Planètes, Environnement UMR CNRS 5276, Universite Lyon 1, 2 rue Raphaël Dubois, 69622 Villeurbanne, France.
authors.forename: Muriel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pacton
authors.affiliation: 1] Centre for Microscopy, Characterization and Analysis, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia [2] Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Core to Crust Fluid Systems & Centre for Exploration Targeting, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, 6009 Western Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wacey
authors.affiliation: Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Polytechnic University of Marche, 60131 Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: Cinzia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Corinaldesi
authors.affiliation: Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Polytechnic University of Marche, 60131 Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tangherlini
authors.affiliation: Centre for Microscopy, Characterization and Analysis, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Matt R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Kilburn
authors.affiliation: Earth Science Section, University of Geneva, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Georges E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Gorin
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Polytechnic University of Marche, 60131 Ancona, Italy [2] Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Villa Comunale, 80121 Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Danovaro
authors.affiliation: ETH Zurich, Geological Institute, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Crisogono
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vasconcelos
mesh_terms: D019015:Geologic Sediments; D056186:Metagenomics; D059013:Microbial Consortia; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D008903:Minerals; D014780:Viruses
chemical_list: D008903:Minerals