Freshwater Microbiomes Shape Viral Inactivation in Continuous Cultures
- 1Laboratory of Environmental Virology, School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering (ENAC), Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausa
Abstract
The high stability of enteric viruses in freshwater increases their risk of waterborne transmission. In aquatic environments, bacteria are known to enhance viral removal and inactivation. However, the differences in viral inactivation across freshwater ecosystems and the influence of community diversity on this process remains poorly understood. Here, we used dilution-to-extinction to generate 64 distinct freshwater communities from three lakes and three aquifers. After establishing freshwater communities in chemostat cultures, each community was challenged with two viruses, coxsackievirus B5 and human adenovirus 2. Both viruses were inactivated more rapidly in lake-derived than in groundwater-derived communities, and adenovirus was inactivated faster than coxsackievirus in both freshwater types. Community-level parameters (cell numbers, richness, evenness) were not significant predictors of viral inactivation. In contrast, differential abundance analyses identified bacterial OTUs associated with inactivation: Acidovorax sp. were associated across sources and Brevundimonas sp., Sphingopyxis sp., and Hydrogenophaga sp. showed source-specific associations. Together, these findings provide new insights into the ecological drivers of viral stability and suggest that viral inactivation may depend more strongly on specific microbial taxa and their ecological context than on overall community diversity. Identifying these associations improves our understanding of the factors governing viral persistence in freshwater environments.
Related
- Field Plant Biodiversity and Carbon Farming Shape Leaf Microbiomes
- Environmental filtering and host identity collectively shape root-associated microbiomes of Ericaceae and ectomycorrhizal plants in fumarole fields
- Demography and selection shape gene loss in freshwater sticklebacks - A pangenomic perspective
- The diel light cycle modulates microcystin content in continuous cultures and natural communities of Microcystis: Implications for bloom monitoring
- Continuous Rod Noise and Nonlinear Synaptic Filtering Shape Signal Detection in the Primary Rod Pathway
BibTeX
@misc{morales2026freshwater,
title = {{Freshwater Microbiomes Shape Viral Inactivation in Continuous Cultures}},
author = {L. D. Morales and J. Heffron and R. M. Cook and H. K. Wynn and M. A. Borchardt and H. Peter and T. Kohn},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.26.754611},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.26.754611v1},
note = {CC BY-ND},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Freshwater Microbiomes Shape Viral Inactivation in Continuous Cultures
AU - L. D. Morales
AU - J. Heffron
AU - R. M. Cook
AU - H. K. Wynn
AU - M. A. Borchardt
AU - H. Peter
AU - T. Kohn
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/26
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.26.754611
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.26.754611v1
AB - The high stability of enteric viruses in freshwater increases their risk of waterborne transmission. In aquatic environments, bacteria are known to enhance viral removal and inactivation. However, the differences in viral inactivation across freshwater ecosystems and the influence of community diversity on this process remains poorly understood. Here, we used dilution-to-extinction to generate 64 distinct freshwater communities from three lakes and three aquifers. After establishing freshwater communities in chemostat cultures, each community was challenged with two viruses, coxsackievirus B5 and human adenovirus 2. Both viruses were inactivated more rapidly in lake-derived than in groundwater-derived communities, and adenovirus was inactivated faster than coxsackievirus in both freshwater types. Community-level parameters (cell numbers, richness, evenness) were not significant predictors of viral inactivation. In contrast, differential abundance analyses identified bacterial OTUs associated with inactivation: Acidovorax sp. were associated across sources and Brevundimonas sp., Sphingopyxis sp., and Hydrogenophaga sp. showed source-specific associations. Together, these findings provide new insights into the ecological drivers of viral stability and suggest that viral inactivation may depend more strongly on specific microbial taxa and their ecological context than on overall community diversity. Identifying these associations improves our understanding of the factors governing viral persistence in freshwater environments.
ER -