Roux S, Brum JR, Dutilh BE, Sunagawa S, Duhaime MB, Loy A, et al. Metabolic and biogeochemical consequences of viral infection in aquatic ecosystems. Zimmerman AE, Howard-Varona C, Needham DM, John SG, Worden AZ, Sullivan MB, et al. Phage puppet masters of the marine microbial realm. 2007 5:801–12.īreitbart M, Bonnain C, Malki K, Sawaya NA. Marine viruses-major players in the global ecosystem. Together, these findings highlight the genomic novelty, dynamic movement, and environment-driven diversification of viral communities in oceanic trenches, and suggest that viruses may influence the hadal ecosystem by reprogramming the metabolism of their hosts and modulating the community of keystone microbes. Furthermore, niche-specific auxiliary metabolic genes were identified in the hadal viral genomes, and a novel viral D-amino acid oxidase was functionally and phylogenetically characterized, suggesting the contribution of these genes in the utilization of refractory organic matter. Notably, microbes and viruses in the hadopelagic seawater seemed to preferably adopt lysogenic lifestyles compared to those in the upper ocean. Moreover, viral communities in different habitats (seawater/sediment and depth-stratified ocean zones) exhibited distinct niche-dependent distribution patterns and genomic properties. Significant inter-trench and intra-trench exchange of viral communities was proposed. The trench viral communities harbored remarkably high novelty, and they were predicted to infect ecologically important microbial clades, including Thaumarchaeota and Oleibacter. Here, we established the oceanic trench viral genome dataset (OTVGD) by analysing 19 microbial metagenomes derived from seawater and sediment samples of the Mariana, Yap, and Kermadec Trenches. The abundance, distribution, and biodiversity of viral communities in the upper ocean have been relatively well studied, but our understanding of viruses in the hadal biosphere remains poor. As the most abundant biological entities on the planet, viruses significantly influence the overall functioning of marine ecosystems.