Author list: David Paez-Espino (presenting), Georgios Pavlopoulos, Emiley Eloe-fadrosh, I-min Chen , Krishna Palaniappan, Natalia Ivanova , Nikos Kyrpides Viruses, are the most abundant biological entities on Earth, but... [ view full abstract ]
Author list: David Paez-Espino (presenting), Georgios Pavlopoulos, Emiley Eloe-fadrosh, I-min Chen , Krishna Palaniappan, Natalia Ivanova , Nikos Kyrpides
Viruses, are the most abundant biological entities on Earth, but challenges in detecting, isolating, and classifying them have prevented exhaustive surveys of the global virome.
To assess the global distribution, phylogenetic diversity, and host specificity of DNA viruses, we analyzed over 6 Tb of metagenomic sequence data from >6,000 geographically diverse samples. We discovered over 260,000 partial DNA viral genomes, including eukaryotic, archaeal, and bacterial viruses (phages), and increased the number of known viral genes by 30-fold 1,2. Approximately half of the viral contigs were grouped into ~40,000 genetically distinct quasi-species clusters. Microbial hosts were predicted for 20,000 viral sequences, tripling the microbial phyla previously reported to be infected by viruses. All the viral data generated and their associated metadata can be accessed and queried via IMG/VR, (https://img.jgi.doe.gov/vr/), the largest publicly available database of isolate reference DNA viruses with computationally identified metagenome derived viral contigs 2, serving as an essential resource in the viral genomics community. The analysis of viral distribution across diverse ecosystems revealed strong habitat type specificity for the vast majority of viruses, but also identified some cosmopolitan groups 1. Our results highlight an extraordinary global viral diversity and provide detailed insight into their habitat distribution and host-virus interactions.
1 Paez-Espino, D. et al. Uncovering Earth's virome. Nature 536, 425-430, doi:10.1038/nature19094 (2016).
2 Paez-Espino, D. et al. IMG/VR: a database of cultured and uncultured DNA Viruses and retroviruses. Nucleic Acids Res, doi:10.1093/nar/gkw1030 (2016).
