Synchronized expansion of soil acid buffer capacity and carbon sequestration potential by viruses on a global scale

Soil acidification is a common problem of soil degradation worldwide, and soil acidification constrains crop yields and sustainable agricultural development. Currently, little attention has been paid to the role played by microorganisms in the acid soil amendment process with conventional alkaline materials, and most of the existing studies are limited to the primary functional response of microbial communities. Especially for the cross-domain microbiome in soil, the impact and mechanism of virus-host interactions to resist acidic adversity stress to synchronise the play of soil carbon transformation are not clear. Therefore, this study used multi-omics techniques and molecular validation experiments to investigate the evolution of virus-host communities during acid soil improvement and quantitatively assess the potential of viruses in metabolically compensating for acid carbon sequestration by soil bacteria.