In some lakes, viruses are the ones deciding if a bacteria colony actually acts its size, breaking all the usual rules of ecology.
bioRxiv · March 13, 2026 · 10.64898/2026.03.13.711613
Why it matters
It is usually assumed that the more bacteria there are, the more metabolic work they are doing. This study shows that viral 'replication strategies' can decouple these two factors, essentially turning specific bacterial groups into highly active 'ghost' populations or lazy 'giant' ones.
From the abstract
Meromictic lakes serve as analogs for redox-stratified ancient oceans with well-mixed surface waters and anoxic bottoms. Purple and green sulfur bacteria (PSB, GSB) dominate the anoxic zones where light penetrates, and their biosignatures can be used to guide interpretations of geologic records. However, PSB and GSB biosignatures do not directly reflect the microbial community composition of modern lakes, posing a challenge for their interpretation. Here, we investigate this decoupling by integr