Virus–microbe interactions have been studied in great molecular details for many years in cultured model systems, yielding a plethora of knowledge on how viruses use and manipulate host machinery. Since the advent of molecular techniques and high-throughput sequencing, methods such as cooccurrence, nucleotide composition, and other statistical frameworks have been widely used to infer virus–microbe interactions, overcoming the limitations of culturing methods. However, their accuracy and relevance is still debatable as cooccurrence does not necessarily mean interaction. Here we introduce an ecological perspective of marine viral communities and potential interaction with their hosts, using analyses that make no prior assumptions on specific virus–host pairs. By size fractionating water samples into free viruses and microbes (i.e., also viruses inside or attached to their hosts) and looking at how viral group abundance changes over time along both fractions, we show that the viral community is undergoing a change in rank abundance across seasons, suggesting a seasonal succession of viruses in the Red Sea. We use abundance patterns in the different size fractions to classify viral clusters, indicating potential diverse interactions with their hosts and potential differences in life history traits between major viral groups. Finally, we show hourly resolved variations of intracellular abundance of similar viral groups, which might indicate differences in their infection cycles or metabolic capacities.

多年来，在培养的模型系统中对病毒与微生物的相互作用进行了详尽的分子研究，从而获得了有关病毒如何使用和操纵宿主机制的大量知识。自从分子技术和高通量测序技术问世以来，诸如共现，核苷酸组成和其他统计框架之类的方法已被广泛用于推断病毒与微生物的相互作用，克服了培养方法的局限性。但是，它们的准确性和相关性仍有待商as，因为共现不一定意味着相互作用。在这里，我们通过使用对特定病毒-宿主对没有事先假设的分析，介绍了海洋病毒群落及其与宿主之间潜在相互作用的生态学观点。通过将水样按大小分级分离成游离病毒和微生物（即，以及宿主内部或附着在宿主上的病毒），并查看病毒组分丰度在两个部分中随时间的变化，我们发现病毒群落在各个季节的等级丰度都在发生变化，这表明红海中病毒的季节连续性。我们使用不同大小比例的丰度模式对病毒簇进行分类，表明其宿主之间可能存在多种相互作用，并且主要病毒组之间的生活史特征可能存在差异。最后，我们显示了相似病毒组的细胞内丰度的每小时分辨变化，这可能表明它们的感染周期或代谢能力存在差异。我们显示病毒群落在各个季节的等级丰度都在发生变化，这表明红海中病毒的季节性演替。我们使用不同大小比例的丰度模式对病毒簇进行分类，表明其宿主之间可能存在多种相互作用，并且主要病毒组之间的生活史特征可能存在差异。最后，我们显示了相似病毒组的细胞内丰度的每小时分辨变化，这可能表明它们的感染周期或代谢能力存在差异。我们显示病毒群落在各个季节的等级丰度都在发生变化，这表明红海中病毒的季节性演替。我们使用不同大小比例的丰度模式对病毒簇进行分类，表明其宿主之间可能存在多种相互作用，并且主要病毒组之间的生活史特征可能存在差异。最后，我们显示了相似病毒组的细胞内丰度的每小时分辨变化，这可能表明它们的感染周期或代谢能力存在差异。