[biorxiv.org] Asgard archaea are the closest known relatives of eukaryotes and are central to models of eukaryogenesis involving archaeal–bacterial symbiosis, yet the contribution of viruses remains unexplored.
Here, for the first time, we visualised unique viruses associated with Asgard archaeal cells. Additionally, we identified the first putative Asgard-archaeal virus satellite, which exhibited genomic interactions involving a bacterium, Stromatodesulfovibrio nilemahensis, providing evidence of a virus-mediated interaction between an Asgard archaeon and a bacterium.
Additionally, novel proviruses of S. nilemahensis displayed distinct genomic features where predictions of alternate recombination sites suggested the acquisition of horizontally acquired genes associated with biofilm formation.
Further, we comprehensively characterise (pro)viruses associated with this co-culture using high resolution cryo-electron tomography, proximity ligation (Hi-C), and metagenomics.
Together, these findings expand the known diversity of Asgard archaeal viruses and establish a foundation for investigating the role of viruses in microbial symbiosis relevant to the emergence of eukaryotic life.
Protein-sharing cluster network analysis of NMVs and SNVs generated using vConTACT3. Reference virus members are coloured by realm, whereas NMVs and SNVs are represented as triangles. Insets show enlarged views of the order-level subnetworks containing viruses identified in this study. Node shapes indicate the taxonomic relationship of reference viruses to NMVs and SNVs. — biorxiv.org
Viruses, Proviruses and Satellites from Asgard Archaea Enrichments Reveal Complex Microbial Interactions, biorxiv.org
Astrobiology,
