What is it about?
Viruses play important ecological roles in marine environments. Using the state-of-the-art bioinformatics software, we assembled >1000 complete viral genomes from marine metagenomes. These genomes were estimated to represent over 500 new viral genera, including those infecting marine euryarchaeota MGII and other hosts from which no viruses have been isolated so far. Our analyses of the genomes revealed unique infection strategies of marine viruses.
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Why is it important?
Our findings show that gene accumulation strategies of marine viruses are not limited to classically known metabolic pathways such as nucleotide synthesis and photosynthesis, but can also target other cellular processes including iron sulfur cluster metabolism and host growth/adaptation.
Perspectives
This study to my sense alerts us the arrival of new age of metagenomics where we analyze microbial assemblies based on the complete genomic information of microorganisms.
Dr. Hiroyuki Ogata
Kyoto University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Environmental Viral Genomes Shed New Light on Virus-Host Interactions in the Ocean, mSphere, March 2017, ASM Journals,
DOI: 10.1128/msphere.00359-16.
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