Viral control of biomass and diversity of bacterioplankton in the deep sea

Viral abundance in deep-sea environments is high. However, the biological, ecological and biogeochemical roles of viruses in the deep sea are under debate. In the present study, microcosm incubations of deep-sea bacterioplankton (2,000 m deep) with normal and reduced pressure of viral lysis were conducted in the western Pacific Ocean. We observed a negative effect of viruses on prokaryotic abundance, indicating the top-down control of bacterioplankton by virioplankton in the deep-sea. The decreased bacterial diversity and a different bacterial community structure with diluted viruses indicate that viruses are sustaining a diverse microbial community in deep-sea environments. Network analysis showed that relieving viral pressure decreased the complexity and clustering coefficients but increased the proportion of positive correlations for the potentially active bacterial community, which suggests that viruses impact deep-sea bacterioplankton interactions. Our study provides experimental evidences of the crucial role of viruses in microbial ecology and biogeochemistry in deep-sea ecosystems. Rui Zhang et al. demonstrate that reduced viral pressure decreases the diversity of deep-sea bacterioplankton in the western Pacific Ocean. This study suggests that viruses sustain a diverse microbial community in deep-sea environments.