| Summary: | Cold seeps are unique environments that are home to organisms like anaerobic methanotrophs (ANME) and vast viral diversity. Despite the importance of ANME’s methane consumption to the global methane budget, not much is known about factors affecting its methane consumption in cold seeps, such as viruses and dormancy. This project aims to understand viruses and their relationship with ANME in dormant and active states in cold seeps. Metagenomic analysis was done to observe the differences in lysogeny rates, proteins, and phylogenetic relationships of ANME viruses across cold seeps and ANME groups. Slurry incubation was then done to observe the response of viral populations to ANME exiting long-term dormancy.
From the metagenomic analysis, rate of lysogeny was observed to differ by site but not ANME group. Protein similarity in viruses was found to be influenced by extraction site and associated ANME groups and indications that viruses across different locations have similar replication processes was observed. Location and ANME group do not appear to have significant influence on the phylogenetic relationship between viruses as well. On the other hand, no clear conclusion on the response of viral populations to ANME exiting long-term dormancy.
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