In low-P terrestrial ecosystems, P-acquisition phages can impact their hosts’ P-acquisition processes via four scenarios, which are indicated by red (Scenario 1), purple (Scenario 2), green (Scenario 3), and orange (Scenario 4) arrows, respectively. Positive and negative regulations of P-acquisition AMGs are indicated by solid and dashed arrows, respectively. Seven proteins (i.e., PPa, PhoD, PhoR, PhoU, PstA, PstB, and PstC) encoded by the P-acquisition AMGs detected in the investigated metatranscriptomes (listed in Supplementary Data 18 ) are shown; whilst two additional proteins (i.e., PhoB and PstS) are shown and marked by a question mark, as the transcripts of phage phoB and pstS were not detected in the metatranscriptomes. The PhoB with a capital letter ‘P’ indicates that it was phosphorylated. The substrates of PPa (i.e., pyrophosphate) and PhoD (i.e., phosphomonoester) are shown, respectively. For simplicity, only the outer and inner cell membranes for Gram-negative bacteria are shown. IM inner membrane, OM outer membrane, Pi phosphate.
