你能想象吗，每一勺海水都充满了数以百万计的病毒。蔚蓝大海不止是鲸、海龟、水母，甚至细菌等生物的家园，这里还生活着无数的病毒。根据最新计算，海洋含有大约20万种不同的病毒。

关键词：科普；病毒；译文；

© François Aurat / Tara Foundation

In the oceans, the vast majority of biodiversity is contained within the microbial fraction containing prokaryotes and eukaryotic microbes, which represents ∼60% of its biomass. Studies looking that biodiversity loss increasingly impairs the ocean’s capacity to produce food, maintain water quality, and recover from perturbations.

在海洋中，绝大多数生物多样性都包含在含有原核生物和真核微生物的微生物部分中，其占生物量的约60％。 研究表明，生物多样性的丧失日益削弱了海洋生产食物、维持水质和从破坏中恢复的能力。

Until now, marine conservation efforts have focused on specific organismal communities, such as fisheries or coral reefs, rather than conserving whole ecosystem biodiversity. But, despite being the foundation of the food web, most marine microbial biodiversity numbers are based on a few well-studied locations.

到目前为止，海洋保护工作的重点是渔业或珊瑚礁等特定的生物群落，而不是保护整个生态系统的生物多样性。但是，尽管海洋微生物是食物链的基础，大多数海洋微生物的生物多样性数据都是基于一些经过深入研究的地点。

Most of the recent discoveries only focus on macro diversity- least for the most abundant double-stranded DNA viruses sampled. In contrast, virtually nothing is known about microdiversity due to the controversy surrounding the existence of viral species.

最近的大多数发现仅关注宏观多样性 - 至少对取样最多的双链DNA病毒来说是这样。相比之下，由于围绕病毒物种存在的争议，实际上对微观多样性一无所知。

Such microdiversity has been studied and is thought to drive adaptation and speciation to promote and maintain stability in ecosystems. However, no datasets are yet available to explore genome-wide microdiversity in viruses, particularly at the global scale.

这种微观多样性已经被研究，并且被认为可以推动适应和物种形成，以促进和维持生态系统的稳定性。然而，目前还没有可用的数据集来研究病毒基因组范围内的微观多样性，尤其是在全球范围内。

Jennifer Brum and Matt B. Sullivan / Lab. Ohio State

In a recent study by the Ohio State University, using data from Tara Oceans expedition (2009-2013), scientists provided the most comprehensive catalog to date of viruses found in all the world’s oceans, including the Arctic Ocean. The study has found that the oceans contain almost 200,000 different viral populations.

在俄亥俄州立大学最近的一项研究中，科学家利用塔拉海洋考察队(2009-2013)的数据，提供了迄今为止在包括北冰洋在内的所有海洋中发现的最全面的病毒目录。该研究发现，海洋中有近20万种不同的病毒种群。

The study plays an essential role in providing detail insights on the genetic variation within each population, informing researchers about the evolution and impact of ocean viruses on a global scale, and thereby consolidating our understanding of marine virus populations.

这项研究在提供每个种群内部遗传变异的详细信息、向研究人员提供有关全球范围内海洋病毒的进化和影响的信息，从而巩固我们对海洋病毒种群的理解方面发挥着至关重要的作用。

Led by the Ohio State University in the United States, this study, which involves teams from the CEA, CNRS, EMBL, ENS-PSL, and the Tara Foundation, associated within the new Tara Oceans Research Federation GO-SEE (1), brings the number of known oceanic viral populations from 16,000 to nearly 200,000.

这项研究由美国俄亥俄州立大学领导，包括来自CEA、CNRS、EMBL、ENS-PSL和Tara基金会的团队，以及新Tara海洋研究联盟GO-SEE(1)的成员，将已知的海洋病毒种群数量从16,000增加到近200,000。

In this study, scientists identified the viruses by analyzing their DNA. Beyond the Arctic Ocean, data collection involved other oceans, and at depths greater than previous studies. 

在这项研究中，科学家通过分析DNA来识别病毒。 在北冰洋之外，数据收集涉及其他海洋，其深度比以前的研究更为深入。

Scientists drew up a global map of marine viruses based on seawater samples from nearly 80 sites around the world. Their viral tally is almost 12-fold higher than previous estimates. They were surprised to find that the viruses fell into just five groups based on their location and depth.

科学家们根据来自世界各地近80个地点的海水样本绘制了一张全球海洋病毒地图。他们的病毒总数几乎比之前的估计高出12倍。他们惊讶地发现，根据病毒的位置和深度，它们只分成五组。

And the most surprising is the Arctic Ocean had lots of different types of viruses. It had been thought that hotspots for microbial diversity would be at the equator.

最令人惊讶的是北冰洋有许多不同类型的病毒。 人们一直认为微观生物多样性的热点将出现在赤道上。

Ann Gregory, now of KU Leuven in Belgium said, “When we examined the genes of the viruses in each of those communities, we found evidence of genetic adaptation to the different zones of the ocean.”

比利时鲁汶大学的安·格雷戈里说，“当我们检查这些病毒在每个群落中的基因时，我们发现了基因适应海洋不同区域的证据。”

Better knowledge of ocean viruses is important because of their influence on other marine microbes, including bacteria and fungi. Viruses have an impact on all other tiny marine organisms, such as plankton, which produce more than half of the oxygen we breathe and absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

更好地了解海洋病毒很重要，因为它们对包括细菌和真菌在内的其他海洋微生物有影响。病毒对所有其他微小的海洋生物都有影响，比如浮游生物，它们产生了我们呼吸的一半以上的氧气，并从大气中吸收二氧化碳。

Matthew Sullivan of Ohio State University said, “Without microbes, the Earth, its oceans, and even our human bodies come to a halt. Our lab is helping researchers finally ‘see’ the hidden viruses that infect these microbes.”

俄亥俄州立大学的马修·沙利文说：“没有微生物，地球，海洋，甚至人体都会停止运转。我们的实验室正在帮助研究人员最终“发现”感染这些微生物的隐藏病毒。“

This is very impressive work,” says Paul Turner, a virologist and evolutionary biologist at Yale University who was not involved in the study. “They’ve produced a hugely valuable data set here…that will be a tremendous resource for others to dive into.”

这是一项令人印象深刻的工作，”耶鲁大学病毒学家和进化生物学家保罗·特纳说，他没有参与这项研究。“他们在这里生成了非常有价值的数据集……这将是其他人可以深入研究的巨大资源。”

（版权说明，转载自;科学猫科普）