Fig. 4: Characterization of auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs) in contaminated soil viruses.

a Genome map of viruses carrying C-fixation AMGs. Arrows depict the position and orientation of predicted proteins on the viral genome, and fill colors represent different functional classes of genes, as shown in the legend. AMGs, which encoded by viruses, are shown in red. The arrows represent the promoter. b Bar chart of lifestyle distribution of viruses with C-fixation AMGs. c Chemical reaction process mediated by C-fixation AMGs. d Enzyme activity determination of C-fixation AMGs. Data are presented as mean values ± standard deviation (SD). Statistical significance for data analysis was assessed using a two-sided t-test (n  =  3). e Growth curves of bacteria and the temporal variations of the CO₂. The CO₂ concentration is represented by the difference generated by XL1-Blue with pET30a-rbcL-rbcS minus XL1-Blue with pET30a. Boxes show medians/quartiles. Whiskers extend to the most extreme vales within 1.5 interquartile ranges. Points shown beyond the whiskers are outliers. Data are presented as mean values ± SD. Statistical significance for data analysis was assessed using a two-sided t-test (n  =  3).