Revived ancient viruses from deep-sea ecosystems are biothreats by triggering gut dysbiosis

As human activities increase in the deep sea, ancient viruses trapped in sediments may revive in the human gut by infecting gut bacteria. Nevertheless, the potential biosecurity risks that deep-sea viruses pose to humans remain unexplored. Here, two bacteriophages DP105 and DP016, purified from the ancient deep-sea sediments, proliferated in the gut of mice to trigger the intestinal inflammation of mice. The biothreats posed by deep-sea viruses to mouse gut microbiota were further evaluated globally using the viruses purified from 106 ancient deep-sea sediment samples. The viruses purified from nine of these sediments could revive in the mouse gut, leading to disrupting gut bacterial communities and causing inflammatory symptoms, liver damage, or irregular glucose metabolism. Viruses with biosecurity risks were found in the seafloors within three distinct oceans.

Our findings highlighted the biothreats of ancient deep-sea viruses to mammal health. The biosecurity should be evaluated before exploring the deep-sea resources.