ERC Starting Grant · 2024
Quantifying temporal patterns of viral mortality in soil
Atmospheric CO2 levels are affected by sources (industrial processes, respiration) and sinks (carbon fixation, storage of organic carbon). Viruses that infect microorganisms may play an important role in soil carbon sink properties. In soil, carbon is stored, or sequestered, by binding to minerals. Recent studies show that long-term mineral-associated matter is mostly microbial debris, and its fraction out of soil organic carbon varies by soil type. Hence, viruses that break microbial host cells create microbial debris and contribute to carbon sequestration in soil, yet are missing from carbon flux models. We lack fundamental information about the physiology of soil viruses to link viral…
From the public funding record at EU CORDIS. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.