（本期Nature封面图片所示为深海病毒和细菌之间的争斗，在这一争斗中，被病毒破坏的细菌为其他细菌提供食物）
深海沉积物含有大量以微生物质形式存在的碳，这一生态系统的动态只是到现在才正在被确定。上期Nature上的一篇论文指出，在一个大面积的沉积物真核生物群落中，古细菌相对于细菌来说居支配地位。在本期Nature上，Danovaro等人报告了病毒感染在这一生态系统中的影响。
来自232个沉积样品的数据表明，病毒的产量是非常高的。病毒感染能使真核生物质产量减少80%以上（在1000米深度之下接近100%），从而将大量溶解的有机碳释放进深海中。在因其他原因缺乏资源的水域，营养物的这种注入尤为重要。因此，病毒在全球生物地球化学循环、深海代谢和我们生物圈最大生态系统的总体功能方面似乎扮演一个重要角色。（生物谷Bioon.com）
相关报道：Nature：海底沉积物生物圈中古细菌占支配地位
古细菌（生物知道）
生物谷推荐原始出处：
Nature 454, 1084-1087 (28 August 2008) | doi:10.1038/nature07268
Major viral impact on the functioning of benthic deep-sea ecosystems
Roberto Danovaro1, Antonio Dell'Anno1, Cinzia Corinaldesi1, Mirko Magagnini1, Rachel Noble2, Christian Tamburini3 & Markus Weinbauer4
Department of Marine Science, Faculty of Science, Polytechnic University of Marche, Via Brecce Bianche, 60131 Ancona, Italy
Institute of Marine Sciences, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 3431 Arendell Street, Morehead City, North Carolina 28557, USA
Université de la Méditerranée, Centre d'Océanologie de Marseille, UMR 6117–CNRS, Campus de Luminy, Case 901, 163 Avenue de Luminy, 13288 Marseille, Cedex 9, France
CNRS; Microbial Ecology & Biogeochemistry Group, Laboratoire d'Océanographie de Villefranche, 06234 Villefranche-sur-Mer, France, Université Pierre et Marie Curie-Paris 6, Laboratoire d'Océanographie de Villefranche, 06234 Villefranche-sur-Mer, France
Viruses are the most abundant biological organisms of the world's oceans. Viral infections are a substantial source of mortality in a range of organisms—including autotrophic and heterotrophic plankton—but their impact on the deep ocean and benthic biosphere is completely unknown. Here we report that viral production in deep-sea benthic ecosystems worldwide is extremely high, and that viral infections are responsible for the abatement of 80% of prokaryotic heterotrophic production. Virus-induced prokaryotic mortality increases with increasing water depth, and beneath a depth of 1,000 m nearly all of the prokaryotic heterotrophic production is transformed into organic detritus. The viral shunt, releasing on a global scale 0.37–0.63 gigatonnes of carbon per year, is an essential source of labile organic detritus in the deep-sea ecosystems. This process sustains a high prokaryotic biomass and provides an important contribution to prokaryotic metabolism, allowing the system to cope with the severe organic resource limitation of deep-sea ecosystems. Our results indicate that viruses have an important role in global biogeochemical cycles, in deep-sea metabolism and the overall functioning of the largest ecosystem of our biosphere.
