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Metagenomics

A global marine viral metagenome

Nature Reviews Genetics volume 8, page 3 (2007)Cite this article

The group of Forest Rohwer and their collaborators collected 184 samples from 68 different marine sites located in four main regions: the Sargasso Sea, the Arctic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico and the coastal waters of British Columbia. They extracted and amplified DNA from uncultured viral particles and used pyrophosphate sequencing to determine the DNA sequences that were present. Fewer than 10% of the sequences in this viral assemblage were significantly related to sequences in current genomic and metagenomic databanks. The sequences were also phylogenetically distinct from those of known phage genomes, and indicated that marine phages share distinctive characteristics.

The richness of viral species varied along a latitudinal gradient. Diversity was highest in regions nearest the equator and lower towards the poles, in common with other marine biota. The marine virome from British Columbia, a region that is affected by seasonal upwelling and the outflows of many rivers, was exceptionally genotype-rich. The authors speculate that the richness of such regions could be boosted to levels approaching global diversity by the inward migration of viral species from other regions.

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References

ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

  1. Angly, F. E. et al. The marine viromes of four oceanic regions. PLoS Biol. 4, e368 (2006)

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FURTHER READING

  1. Edwards, R. A. & Rohwer, F. Viral metagenomics. Nature Rev. Microbiol. 3, 504–510 (2005)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Tringe, S. G. & Rubin, E. M. Metagenomics: DNA sequencing of environmental samples. Nature Rev. Genet. 6, 805–814 (2005)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

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Authors
  1. Edward Wawrzynczak
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SDSU Center for Universal Microbial Sequencing

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Wawrzynczak, E. A global marine viral metagenome. Nat Rev Genet 8, 3 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrg2030

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