SRA

This study provides new knowledge of the VLPs abundance, composition and hosts diversity, and potential biogeochemical impacts in grassland soil of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau across three precipitation gradients. VLPs abundance is positively correlated with microbial abundance and reaches the highest in wet soil. In addition, soil water content mainly contributes to the variability in VLPs abundance. Based on LEfSe analysis, we find that viral community composition across three precipitation gradients was significantly different (p < 0.05). And the high host diversity and abundant CAZymes genes were showed in moderate precipitation. Finally, abundant CAZymes represented by glycoside hydrolases were identified in our study, indicating that soil viruses may play a potential role in carbon cycle on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and some novel auxiliary carbohydrate metabolism genes were also identified. Overall, the results of this study indicate major differences in soil viruses along the precipitation gradient and provide context for predicting how future changes in climate will influence the soil virosphere.