Viral Life Styles: From Molecules to Biomes

Dear colleagues,

Viruses infecting microbes display various life styles, i.e., lytic, lysogenic/latent, pseudolysogenic, or chronic infections. Pseudolysogenic and chronic infections are less studied and there is hardly any information at the ecosystem level, i.e., we lack information on the ecological mechanisms which control these life styles. Current and potentially contradictory models dealing with lytic vs. lysogenic life styles are the “Kill-the-Winner” and the “Piggyback-the-Winner” hypotheses. The predominance of life styles in ecosystems vary likely on temporal, spatial, or nutritional (trophic gradient) scales. Here, we consider not only large scale terrestrial, freshwater, or marine ecosystems/biomes as environment but also (in)organic particles and the surface or interior of plant and animal biota. We welcome all types of research, i.e., observational, experimental, and modelling studies which help to elucidate how and under which conditions different viral life styles become established or dominant. We anticipate a better understanding of how viruses shape the diversity of their hosts and how they interact with ecosystem functions.

Dr. Markus G. Weinbauer
Dr. Télesphore Sime-Ngando
Guest Editors

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