Navarro Marcos, CarlosGutiérrez-Rivas, MónicaGoiri, IdoiaGarcía-Rodríguez, AserGonzález-Recio, Óscar2025-12-012025-12-012025Navarro Marcos, C., Gutiérrez-Rivas, M., Goiri, I., García-Rodríguez, A., & González-Recio, Ó. (2025). The association of the rumen virome with methane emissions in dairy cattle. Communications biology, 8(1), 1534. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-025-08896-x10.1038/s42003-025-08896-xhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/128230Author contributions C.N.M., I.G., A.G.-R. and O.G.-R. designed the study. I.G. and A.G.-R. collected ruminal samples and methane measurements. M.G.-R. performed laboratorial analyses. C.N.M. performed the bioinformatic analyses. O.G.-R. contributed to the bioinformatic analyses. C.N.M. wrote the manuscript. M.G.-R., I.G., A.G.-R. and O.G.-R. edited the drafts of the manuscript.Enteric methane production in ruminants is a major environmental concern, yet its association with the ruminal virome remains largely unexplored. Here, we conduct a bioinformatic analysis on previously published ruminal metagenomes from 448 Holstein cows to investigate the virome and its association with methane production. We identify 8933 viral operational taxonomic units (vOTUs), including bacteriophages, archaeophages, megaviruses, and virophages. Differences between high- and low-emitting cows are observed. Low emitters show greater abundance (mean log-FC = 0.72, Padj ≤ 0.049) of some vOTUs infecting bacteria like Prevotella, whereas greater abundance (mean log-FC = 0.70, Padj ≤ 0.047) of archaeophages and megaviruses infecting Methanobrevibacter, ciliates, and fungi, all microorganisms linked to methane production, are observed in high emitters. Associations between viruses and microorganisms might suggest viruses influence methane emissions by modulating key microbial populations. Although mechanisms remain unclear, rumen viruses could serve as biomarkers for selecting low-emission animals or developing microbial interventionsengAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/journal article2399-3642https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-025-08896-x41198823open access636.082.4MicrobiomeImpactProducción animal3104 Producción Animal