Unravelling the habitat preferences, ecological drivers and potential hosts of soil giant viruses across China. A continental-scale analysis of soil giant viruses reveals their habitat preference, abundance–distribution relationship and potential hosts

Soil giant viruses are increasingly believed to have profound effects on ecological functioning by infecting diverse eukaryotes. However, their biogeography and ecology remain poorly understood. Here, we analyzed 333 soil metagenomes from five habitat types (farmland, forest, Gobi desert, grassland and mine wasteland) across China and identified 1,875 distinct giant virus phylotypes affiliated with 11 families, greatly expanding the diversity of soil giant viruses. Most phylotypes exhibited a heterogeneous distribution among habitat types, with a remarkably high proportion of unique phylotypes in mine wasteland. While mean annual precipitation was identified as a common influential factor to alpha-diversity of giant viral communities across habitat types, soil eukaryotes were found to be the most important driver of beta-diversity. Moreover, co-occurrence network analysis revealed some pairings between viral phylotypes and eukaryotes (protozoa, fungi and algae). These findings extend our knowledge of diversity, habitat preferences, ecological drivers and potential hosts of soil giant viruses.