Preprint Review Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Astrovirology: how viruses will enhance our understanding of life in the universe

Gareth Trubl
* ORCID logo ,
Kenneth Stedman
ORCID logo ,
Kathryn Bywaters
,
Emily Matula
,
Pacifica Sommers
,
Simon Roux
ORCID logo ,
Nancy Merino
,
John Yin
ORCID logo ,
Jason Kaelber
ORCID logo ,
Aram Avila-Herrera
,
Peter Johnson
ORCID logo ,
John Johnson
ORCID logo ,
Schuyler Borges
,
Peter Weber
,
Jennifer Pett-Ridge
,
Penelope Boston
Version 1 : Received: 16 January 2023 / Approved: 16 January 2023 / Online: 16 January 2023 (03:44:50 CET)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Trubl, G.; Stedman, K.M.; Bywaters, K.F.; Matula, E.E.; Sommers, P.; Roux, S.; Merino, N.; Yin, J.; Kaelber, J.T.; Avila-Herrera, A.; et al. Astrovirology: How Viruses Enhance Our Understanding of Life in the Universe. International Journal of Astrobiology 2023, 1–25, doi:10.1017/s1473550423000058. Trubl, G.; Stedman, K.M.; Bywaters, K.F.; Matula, E.E.; Sommers, P.; Roux, S.; Merino, N.; Yin, J.; Kaelber, J.T.; Avila-Herrera, A.; et al. Astrovirology: How Viruses Enhance Our Understanding of Life in the Universe. International Journal of Astrobiology 2023, 1–25, doi:10.1017/s1473550423000058.

Abstract

Viruses are the most numerically abundant biological entities on Earth. As ubiquitous replicators of information molecules and agents of community change, viruses have potent effects on life on Earth and may play a critical role in human spaceflight missions, life detection missions to other planetary bodies, and in planetary protection. However, major knowledge gaps constrain our understanding of the Earth’s virosphere: 1) the role viruses play in biogeochemical cycles, 2) the origin(s) of viruses, and 3) the involvement of viruses in the evolution, distribution, and persistence of life. As viruses are the only replicators that span all known types of nucleic acids, an expanded experimental and theoretical toolbox built for Earth’s viruses will be pivotal for detecting and understanding life on Earth and beyond. Only by filling in these knowledge and technical gaps will we obtain an inclusive assessment of how to distinguish and detect life on other planetary surfaces. Meanwhile, space exploration requires life-support systems for the needs of humans, plants, and their microbial inhabitants. Viral effects on microbes and plants are essential for Earth’s biosphere and human health, but virus-host interactions in spaceflight are poorly understood. Viral relationships with their hosts respond to environmental changes in complex ways which are difficult to predict by extrapolating from Earth-based proxies. These relationships must therefore be studied in space to fully understand how spaceflight will modulate viral impacts on human health and life-support systems, including microbiomes. This review addresses key questions that must be examined to incorporate viruses into Earth system models, life-support systems, and life detection. Further, the results of tackling these questions will help in our efforts to develop planetary protection protocols and further our understanding of viruses in astrobiology.

Keywords

LIFE; Origin; Exobiology; Evolution; Ecology; Astrobiology; Space

Subject

Biology and Life Sciences, Virology

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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