Theomophage: massive, parallel phage outbreaks in cellulose-degrading compost microbial communities (Science Advances)

Meijer, Skiadas, Rainey, Hogeweg and Dutilh tracked viral dynamics in 20 compost-derived microbial communities over one year and observed massive, parallel outbreaks of Theomophage, a previously uncharacterized member of the Schitoviridae that reached up to 74% of metagenomic reads, the largest bacteriophage outbreak documented to date. Theomophage stayed genetically stable during outbreaks, but experimental migration of viral communities triggered rapid evolution through recombination and new mutations.