Abstract
Deep marine sediments harbor huge numbers of prokaryotes that are involved in the global elemental cycles. This “deep biosphere” is prone to increasing energy limitation with depth. Phages are probably the main “predators” for microbial life in the subsurface and provide nutrients due to lysis of infected cells. Their numbers always exceed the total cell counts by factors of up to 225 indicating ongoing virus production. At this high ratio, up to 80 percent of all biomass is virus-bound.
Full Text
Published Version
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call