“Microbes underpin so much of what we see on earth in terms of nutrient cycles and biogeochemical cycles…. Viruses play a pretty important role in the cycling of nutrients in these systems.” -Mike Wilkins, Colorado State University
JGI users and microbiome researchers Mike Wilkins and his graduate student Kaela Amundson at Colorado State University have many questions about the microbial communities deep underground, and before the pandemic, they took the JGI on a sampling field trip. One of the questions they’re looking at: the role viral infection may play in other natural ecosystems. The video complements a recently published paper with first author Amundson in the journal Microbiome.
The work builds off a proposal approved through a collaborative science initiative called Facilities Integrating Collaborations for User Science (FICUS). Through FICUS, the researchers have tapped into the resources and capabilities of both the JGI and the Environmental Molecular Science Laboratory (EMSL) at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
Letters of Intent are due March 16, 2022 to freely access resources at multiple DOE user facilities through the FICUS research support initiative proposal call.
Publications and Other Relevant Links:
- Amundson KK et al. Microbial colonization and persistence in deep fractured shales is guided by metabolic exchanges and viral predation. Microbiome. 2022 Jan 16;10(1):5. doi: 10.1186/s40168-021-01194-8.
- Kaela Amundson’s poster at the 2021 AGU Fall Meeting: “Predators of the Deep: virus-host dynamics in the terrestrial subsurface.
- Danczak RE et al. Ecological assembly processes are coordinated between bacterial and viral communities in fractured shale ecosystems. mSystems. 2020 Mar 17;5(2):e00098-20. doi: 10.1128/mSystems.00098-20.
- Daly RA et al. Viruses control dominant bacteria colonizing the terrestrial deep biosphere after hydraulic fracturing. Nat Microbiol. 2019 Feb;4(2):352-361. doi: 10.1038/s41564-018-0312-6. Epub 2018 Dec 3.
- Daly RA et al.Microbial metabolisms in a 2.5-km-deep ecosystem created by hydraulic fracturing in shales. Nat Microbiol. 2016 Sep 5;1:16146. doi: 10.1038/nmicrobiol.2016.146.
- JGI Highlight: Microbial Metabolism Impacts Sustainability of Fracking Efforts
- Kelly Wrighton’s talk at the 2016 JGI Annual Meeting: http://bit.ly/JGI2016Wrighton
Byline: Alison F. Takemura