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Ma B, Wang Y, Zhao K, Stirling E, Lv X, Yu Y, Hu L, Tang C, Wu C, Dong B, Xue R, Dahlgren RA, Tan X, Dai H, Zhu YG, Chu H, Xu J. Biogeographic patterns and drivers of soil viromes. Nat Ecol Evol 2024; 8:717-728. [PMID: 38383853 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-024-02347-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2023] [Accepted: 01/26/2024] [Indexed: 02/23/2024]
Abstract
Viruses are crucial in shaping soil microbial functions and ecosystems. However, studies on soil viromes have been limited in both spatial scale and biome coverage. Here we present a comprehensive synthesis of soil virome biogeographic patterns using the Global Soil Virome dataset (GSV) wherein we analysed 1,824 soil metagenomes worldwide, uncovering 80,750 partial genomes of DNA viruses, 96.7% of which are taxonomically unassigned. The biogeography of soil viral diversity and community structure varies across different biomes. Interestingly, the diversity of viruses does not align with microbial diversity and contrasts with it by showing low diversity in forest and shrubland soils. Soil texture and moisture conditions are further corroborated as key factors affecting diversity by our predicted soil viral diversity atlas, revealing higher diversity in humid and subhumid regions. In addition, the binomial degree distribution pattern suggests a random co-occurrence pattern of soil viruses. These findings are essential for elucidating soil viral ecology and for the comprehensive incorporation of viruses into soil ecosystem models.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bin Ma
- Institute of Soil and Water Resources and Environmental Science, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center, Hangzhou, China
| | - Yiling Wang
- Institute of Soil and Water Resources and Environmental Science, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Kankan Zhao
- Institute of Soil and Water Resources and Environmental Science, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Erinne Stirling
- Agriculture and Food, CSIRO, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
- Acid Sulfate Soils Centre, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
| | - Xiaofei Lv
- Department of Environmental Engineering, China Jiliang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Yijun Yu
- Arable Soil Quality and Fertilizer Administration Bureau of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, China
| | - Lingfei Hu
- Institute of Soil and Water Resources and Environmental Science, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Chao Tang
- Institute of Applied Remote Sensing and Information Technology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Chuyi Wu
- School of Earth Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Baiyu Dong
- Institute of Applied Remote Sensing and Information Technology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Ran Xue
- Institute of Soil and Water Resources and Environmental Science, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center, Hangzhou, China
| | - Randy A Dahlgren
- Department of Land, Air and Water Resources, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Xiangfeng Tan
- Institute of Digital Agriculture, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou, China
| | - Hengyi Dai
- Institute of Soil and Water Resources and Environmental Science, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Yong-Guan Zhu
- Research Center for Eco-environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Haiyan Chu
- State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China
| | - Jianming Xu
- Institute of Soil and Water Resources and Environmental Science, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
- Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
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Smith L, Goldobina E, Govi B, Shkoporov AN. Bacteriophages of the Order Crassvirales: What Do We Currently Know about This Keystone Component of the Human Gut Virome? Biomolecules 2023; 13:584. [PMID: 37189332 PMCID: PMC10136315 DOI: 10.3390/biom13040584] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2023] [Revised: 03/16/2023] [Accepted: 03/17/2023] [Indexed: 05/17/2023] Open
Abstract
The order Crassvirales comprises dsDNA bacteriophages infecting bacteria in the phylum Bacteroidetes that are found in a variety of environments but are especially prevalent in the mammalian gut. This review summarises available information on the genomics, diversity, taxonomy, and ecology of this largely uncultured viral taxon. With experimental data available from a handful of cultured representatives, the review highlights key properties of virion morphology, infection, gene expression and replication processes, and phage-host dynamics.
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What Lies Beneath? Taking the Plunge into the Murky Waters of Phage Biology. mSystems 2023; 8:e0080722. [PMID: 36651762 PMCID: PMC9948730 DOI: 10.1128/msystems.00807-22] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/19/2023] Open
Abstract
The sequence revolution revealed that bacteria-infecting viruses, known as phages, are Earth's most abundant biological entities. Phages have far-reaching impacts on the form and function of microbial communities and play a fundamental role in ecological processes. However, even well into the sequencing revolution, we have only just begun to explore the murky waters around the phage biology iceberg. Many viral reads cannot be assigned to a culturable isolate, and reference databases are biased toward more easily collectible samples, which likely distorts our conclusions. This minireview points out alternatives to mapping reads to reference databases and highlights innovative bioinformatic and experimental approaches that can help us overcome some of the challenges in phage research and better decipher the impact of phages on microbial communities. Moving beyond the identification of novel phages, we highlight phage metabolomics as an important influencer of bacterial host cell physiology and hope to inspire the reader to consider the effects of phages on host metabolism and ecosystems at large. We encourage researchers to report unassigned/unknown sequencing reads and contigs and to continue developing alternative methods to investigate phages within sequence data.
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Shkoporov AN, Turkington CJ, Hill C. Mutualistic interplay between bacteriophages and bacteria in the human gut. Nat Rev Microbiol 2022; 20:737-749. [PMID: 35773472 DOI: 10.1038/s41579-022-00755-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 22.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/25/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Bacteriophages (phages) are often described as obligate predators of their bacterial hosts, and phage predation is one of the leading forces controlling the density and distribution of bacterial populations. Every 48 h half of all bacteria on Earth are killed by phages. Efficient killing also forms the basis of phage therapy in humans and animals and the use of phages as food preservatives. In turn, bacteria have a plethora of resistance systems against phage attack, but very few bacterial species, if any, have entirely escaped phage predation. However, in complex communities and environments such as the human gut, this antagonistic model of attack and counter-defence does not fully describe the scope of phage-bacterium interactions. In this Review, we explore some of the more mutualistic aspects of phage-bacterium interactions in the human gut, and we suggest that the relationship between phages and their bacterial hosts in the gut is best characterized not as a fight to the death between enemies but rather as a mutualistic relationship between partners.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrey N Shkoporov
- APC Microbiome Ireland & School of Microbiology, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland. .,Department of Medicine, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.
| | | | - Colin Hill
- APC Microbiome Ireland & School of Microbiology, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.
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5
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Gut virome profiling identifies a widespread bacteriophage family associated with metabolic syndrome. Nat Commun 2022; 13:3594. [PMID: 35739117 PMCID: PMC9226167 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-31390-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2021] [Accepted: 06/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
There is significant interest in altering the course of cardiometabolic disease development via gut microbiomes. Nevertheless, the highly abundant phage members of the complex gut ecosystem -which impact gut bacteria- remain understudied. Here, we show gut virome changes associated with metabolic syndrome (MetS), a highly prevalent clinical condition preceding cardiometabolic disease, in 196 participants by combined sequencing of bulk whole genome and virus like particle communities. MetS gut viromes exhibit decreased richness and diversity. They are enriched in phages infecting Streptococcaceae and Bacteroidaceae and depleted in those infecting Bifidobacteriaceae. Differential abundance analysis identifies eighteen viral clusters (VCs) as significantly associated with either MetS or healthy viromes. Among these are a MetS-associated Roseburia VC that is related to healthy control-associated Faecalibacterium and Oscillibacter VCs. Further analysis of these VCs revealed the Candidatus Heliusviridae, a highly widespread gut phage lineage found in 90+% of participants. The identification of the temperate Ca. Heliusviridae provides a starting point to studies of phage effects on gut bacteria and the role that this plays in MetS.
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Smith SE, Huang W, Tiamani K, Unterer M, Khan Mirzaei M, Deng L. Emerging technologies in the study of the virome. Curr Opin Virol 2022; 54:101231. [DOI: 10.1016/j.coviro.2022.101231] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2022] [Revised: 04/16/2022] [Accepted: 04/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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Grupstra CGB, Howe-Kerr LI, Veglia AJ, Bryant RL, Coy SR, Blackwelder PL, Correa AMS. Thermal stress triggers productive viral infection of a key coral reef symbiont. THE ISME JOURNAL 2022; 16:1430-1441. [PMID: 35046559 PMCID: PMC9038915 DOI: 10.1038/s41396-022-01194-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2021] [Revised: 01/03/2022] [Accepted: 01/07/2022] [Indexed: 04/27/2023]
Abstract
Climate change-driven ocean warming is increasing the frequency and severity of bleaching events, in which corals appear whitened after losing their dinoflagellate endosymbionts (family Symbiodiniaceae). Viral infections of Symbiodiniaceae may contribute to some bleaching signs, but little empirical evidence exists to support this hypothesis. We present the first temporal analysis of a lineage of Symbiodiniaceae-infecting positive-sense single-stranded RNA viruses ("dinoRNAVs") in coral colonies, which were exposed to a 5-day heat treatment (+2.1 °C). A total of 124 dinoRNAV major capsid protein gene "aminotypes" (unique amino acid sequences) were detected from five colonies of two closely related Pocillopora-Cladocopium (coral-symbiont) combinations in the experiment; most dinoRNAV aminotypes were shared between the two coral-symbiont combinations (64%) and among multiple colonies (82%). Throughout the experiment, seventeen dinoRNAV aminotypes were found only in heat-treated fragments, and 22 aminotypes were detected at higher relative abundances in heat-treated fragments. DinoRNAVs in fragments of some colonies exhibited higher alpha diversity and dispersion under heat stress. Together, these findings provide the first empirical evidence that exposure to high temperatures triggers some dinoRNAVs to switch from a persistent to a productive infection mode within heat-stressed corals. Over extended time frames, we hypothesize that cumulative dinoRNAV production in the Pocillopora-Cladocopium system could affect colony symbiotic status, for example, by decreasing Symbiodiniaceae densities within corals. This study sets the stage for reef-scale investigations of dinoRNAV dynamics during bleaching events.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Alex J Veglia
- BioSciences at Rice, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Reb L Bryant
- BioSciences at Rice, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, The University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA
| | | | - Patricia L Blackwelder
- Department of Chemistry, University of Miami Center for Advanced Microscopy (UMCAM), 1301 Memorial Dr, Coral Gables, FL, 33146-0630, USA
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8
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Jang HB, Chittick L, Li YF, Zablocki O, Sanderson CM, Carrillo A, van den Engh G, Sullivan MB. Viral tag and grow: a scalable approach to capture and characterize infectious virus-host pairs. ISME COMMUNICATIONS 2022; 2:12. [PMID: 37938680 PMCID: PMC9723727 DOI: 10.1038/s43705-022-00093-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2021] [Revised: 01/06/2022] [Accepted: 01/13/2022] [Indexed: 04/27/2023]
Abstract
Viral metagenomics (viromics) has reshaped our understanding of DNA viral diversity, ecology, and evolution across Earth's ecosystems. However, viromics now needs approaches to link newly discovered viruses to their host cells and characterize them at scale. This study adapts one such method, sequencing-enabled viral tagging (VT), to establish "Viral Tag and Grow" (VT + Grow) to rapidly capture and characterize viruses that infect a cultivated target bacterium, Pseudoalteromonas. First, baseline cytometric and microscopy data improved understanding of how infection conditions and host physiology impact populations in VT flow cytograms. Next, we extensively evaluated "and grow" capability to assess where VT signals reflect adsorption alone or wholly successful infections that lead to lysis. Third, we applied VT + Grow to a clonal virus stock, which, coupled to traditional plaque assays, revealed significant variability in burst size-findings that hint at a viral "individuality" parallel to the microbial phenotypic heterogeneity literature. Finally, we established a live protocol for public comment and improvement via protocols.io to maximally empower the research community. Together these efforts provide a robust foundation for VT researchers, and establish VT + Grow as a promising scalable technology to capture and characterize viruses from mixed community source samples that infect cultivable bacteria.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ho Bin Jang
- Department of Microbiology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Lauren Chittick
- Department of Microbiology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Yueh-Fen Li
- Department of Microbiology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Olivier Zablocki
- Department of Microbiology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | | | - Alfonso Carrillo
- Department of Microbiology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | | | - Matthew B Sullivan
- Department of Microbiology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
- Department of Civil, Environmental and Geodetic Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
- Center of Microbiome Science, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
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9
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Mycelia-Assisted Isolation of Non-Host Bacteria Able to Co-Transport Phages. Viruses 2022; 14:v14020195. [PMID: 35215789 PMCID: PMC8877629 DOI: 10.3390/v14020195] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2021] [Revised: 01/14/2022] [Accepted: 01/17/2022] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent studies have demonstrated that phages can be co-transported with motile non-host bacteria, thereby enabling their invasion of biofilms and control of biofilm composition. Here, we developed a novel approach to isolate non-host bacteria able to co-transport phages from soil. It is based on the capability of phage-carrying non-host bacteria to move along mycelia out of soil and form colonies in plaques of their co-transported phages. The approach was tested using two model phages of differing surface hydrophobicity, i.e., hydrophobic Escherichia virus T4 (T4) and hydrophilic Pseudoalteromonas phage HS2 (HS2). The phages were mixed into soil and allowed to be transported by soil bacteria along the mycelia of Pythium ultimum. Five phage-carrying bacterial species were isolated (Viridibacillus sp., Enterobacter sp., Serratia sp., Bacillus sp., Janthinobacterium sp.). These bacteria exhibited phage adsorption efficiencies of ≈90–95% for hydrophobic T4 and 30–95% for hydrophilic HS2. The phage adsorption efficiency of Viridibacillus sp. was ≈95% for both phages and twofold higher than T4-or HS2-adsorption to their respective hosts, qualifying Viridibacillus sp. as a potential super carrier for phages. Our approach offers an effective and target-specific way to identify and isolate phage-carrying bacteria in natural and man-made environments.
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10
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Dutilh BE, Varsani A, Tong Y, Simmonds P, Sabanadzovic S, Rubino L, Roux S, Muñoz AR, Lood C, Lefkowitz EJ, Kuhn JH, Krupovic M, Edwards RA, Brister JR, Adriaenssens EM, Sullivan MB. Perspective on taxonomic classification of uncultivated viruses. Curr Opin Virol 2021; 51:207-215. [PMID: 34781105 DOI: 10.1016/j.coviro.2021.10.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2021] [Revised: 10/26/2021] [Accepted: 10/27/2021] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
Historically, virus taxonomy has been limited to describing viruses that were readily cultivated in the laboratory or emerging in natural biomes. Metagenomic analyses, single-particle sequencing, and database mining efforts have yielded new sequence data on an astounding number of previously unknown viruses. As metagenomes are relatively free of biases, these data provide an unprecedented insight into the vastness of the virosphere, but to properly value the extent of this diversity it is critical that the viruses are taxonomically classified. Inclusion of uncultivated viruses has already improved the process as well as the understanding of the taxa, viruses, and their evolutionary relationships. The continuous development and testing of computational tools will be required to maintain a dynamic virus taxonomy that can accommodate the new discoveries.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bas E Dutilh
- Theoretical Biology and Bioinformatics, Science for Life, Utrecht University, Padualaan 8, 3584 CH, Utrecht, The Netherlands; Institute of Bioloversity, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Cluster of Excellence Balance of the Microverse, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, 07743, Jena, Germany.
| | - Arvind Varsani
- The Biodesign Center of Fundamental and Applied Microbiomics, School of Life Sciences, Center for Evolution and Medicine, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA; Structural Biology Research Unit, Department of Integrative Biomedical Sciences, University of Cape Town, 7925, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Yigang Tong
- Beijing Advanced Innovation Centre for Soft Matter Science and Engineering, College of Life Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, 100029, China
| | - Peter Simmonds
- Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Peter Medawar Building, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3SY, UK
| | - Sead Sabanadzovic
- Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Entomology and Plant Pathology, Mississippi State University, MS 39762, USA
| | - Luisa Rubino
- Istituto per la Protezione Sostenibile delle Piante, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Bari, Italy
| | - Simon Roux
- DOE Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Alejandro Reyes Muñoz
- Max Planck Tandem Group in Computational Biology, Department of Biological Sciences, Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia
| | - Cédric Lood
- Department of Microbial and Molecular Systems, KU Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 23, 3001, Leuven, Belgium; Department of Biosystems, KU Leuven, Willem de Croylaan 42, 3001, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Elliot J Lefkowitz
- Department of Microbiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294, USA
| | - Jens H Kuhn
- Integrated Research Facility at Fort Detrick, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Fort Detrick, Frederick, MD 21702, USA
| | - Mart Krupovic
- Institut Pasteur, Université de Paris, Archaeal Virology Unit, F-75015, Paris, France
| | - Robert A Edwards
- College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA 5042, Australia
| | - J Rodney Brister
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda MD 20894, USA
| | | | - Matthew B Sullivan
- Departments of Microbiology and Civil, Environmental, and Geodetic Engineering, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
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Correa AMS, Howard-Varona C, Coy SR, Buchan A, Sullivan MB, Weitz JS. Revisiting the rules of life for viruses of microorganisms. Nat Rev Microbiol 2021; 19:501-513. [PMID: 33762712 DOI: 10.1038/s41579-021-00530-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 60] [Impact Index Per Article: 20.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/15/2021] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
Viruses that infect microbial hosts have traditionally been studied in laboratory settings with a focus on either obligate lysis or persistent lysogeny. In the environment, these infection archetypes are part of a continuum that spans antagonistic to beneficial modes. In this Review, we advance a framework to accommodate the context-dependent nature of virus-microorganism interactions in ecological communities by synthesizing knowledge from decades of virology research, eco-evolutionary theory and recent technological advances. We discuss that nuanced outcomes, rather than the extremes of the continuum, are particularly likely in natural communities given variability in abiotic factors, the availability of suboptimal hosts and the relevance of multitrophic partnerships. We revisit the 'rules of life' in terms of how long-term infections shape the fate of viruses and microbial cells, populations and ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Samantha R Coy
- BioSciences Department, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Alison Buchan
- Department of Microbiology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA.
| | - Matthew B Sullivan
- Department of Microbiology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA. .,Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geodetic Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
| | - Joshua S Weitz
- School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA. .,School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA.
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12
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Abstract
Bacteria acquire novel DNA through horizontal gene transfer (HGT), a process that enables an organism to rapidly adapt to changing environmental conditions, provides a competitive edge and potentially alters its relationship with its host. Although the HGT process is routinely exploited in laboratories, there is a surprising disconnect between what we know from laboratory experiments and what we know from natural environments, such as the human gut microbiome. Owing to a suite of newly available computational algorithms and experimental approaches, we have a broader understanding of the genes that are being transferred and are starting to understand the ecology of HGT in natural microbial communities. This Review focuses on these new technologies, the questions they can address and their limitations. As these methods are applied more broadly, we are beginning to recognize the full extent of HGT possible within a microbiome and the punctuated dynamics of HGT, specifically in response to external stimuli. Furthermore, we are better characterizing the complex selective pressures on mobile genetic elements and the mechanisms by which they interact with the bacterial host genome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ilana Lauren Brito
- Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.
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13
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Identification of Receptor Binding Proteins in Flagellotropic Agrobacterium Phage 7-7-1. Viruses 2021; 13:v13071267. [PMID: 34209785 PMCID: PMC8310070 DOI: 10.3390/v13071267] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2021] [Revised: 06/22/2021] [Accepted: 06/23/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
The rapid discovery of new and diverse bacteriophages has driven the innovation of approaches aimed at detailing interactions with their bacterial hosts. Previous studies on receptor binding proteins (RBPs) mainly relied on their identification in silico and are based on similarities to well-characterized systems. Thus, novel phage RBPs unlike those currently annotated in genomic and proteomic databases remain largely undiscovered. In this study, we employed a screen to identify RBPs in flagellotropic Agrobacterium phage 7-7-1. Flagellotropic phages utilize bacterial flagella as receptors. The screen identified three candidate RBPs, Gp4, Gp102, and Gp44. Homology modelling predicted that Gp4 is a trimeric, tail associated protein with a central β-barrel, while the structure and function of Gp102 and Gp44 are less obvious. Studies with purified Gp41-247 confirmed its ability to bind and interact with host cells, highlighting the robustness of the RBP screen. We also discovered that Gp41-247 inhibits the growth of host cells in a motility and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) dependent fashion. Hence, our results suggest interactions between Gp41-247, rotating flagellar filaments and host glycans to inhibit host cell growth, which presents an impactful and intriguing focus for future studies.
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14
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Global overview and major challenges of host prediction methods for uncultivated phages. Curr Opin Virol 2021; 49:117-126. [PMID: 34126465 DOI: 10.1016/j.coviro.2021.05.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2021] [Revised: 05/20/2021] [Accepted: 05/22/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Bacterial communities play critical roles across all of Earth's biomes, affecting human health and global ecosystem functioning. They do so under strong constraints exerted by viruses, that is, bacteriophages or 'phages'. Phages can reshape bacterial communities' structure, influence long-term evolution of bacterial populations, and alter host cell metabolism during infection. Metagenomics approaches, that is, shotgun sequencing of environmental DNA or RNA, recently enabled large-scale exploration of phage genomic diversity, yielding several millions of phage genomes now to be further analyzed and characterized. One major challenge however is the lack of direct host information for these phages. Several methods and tools have been proposed to bioinformatically predict the potential host(s) of uncultivated phages based only on genome sequence information. Here we review these different approaches and highlight their distinct strengths and limitations. We also outline complementary experimental assays which are being proposed to validate and refine these bioinformatic predictions.
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15
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Khan Mirzaei M, Deng L. New technologies for developing phage-based tools to manipulate the human microbiome. Trends Microbiol 2021; 30:131-142. [PMID: 34016512 DOI: 10.1016/j.tim.2021.04.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2021] [Revised: 04/23/2021] [Accepted: 04/26/2021] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Gut bacteria play an essential role in the human body by regulating multiple functions, producing essential metabolites, protecting against pathogen invasion, and much more. Conversely, changes in their community structure are linked to several gastrointestinal (GI) and non-GI conditions. Fortunately, these bacteria are amenable to external perturbations, but we need specific tools for their safe manipulation as nonspecific changes can cause unpredicted long-term consequences. Here, we mainly discuss recent advances in cultivation-independent technologies and argue their relevance to different key steps, that is, identifying the modulation targets and developing phage-based tools to precisely modulate gut bacteria and restore a sustainable microbiome in humans. We finally suggest multiple modulating strategies for different dysbiosis-associated diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohammadali Khan Mirzaei
- Institute of Virology, Helmholtz Centre Munich and Technical University of Munich, Neuherberg, Bavaria 85764, Germany
| | - Li Deng
- Institute of Virology, Helmholtz Centre Munich and Technical University of Munich, Neuherberg, Bavaria 85764, Germany.
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Fitzgerald CB, Shkoporov AN, Upadrasta A, Khokhlova EV, Ross RP, Hill C. Probing the "Dark Matter" of the Human Gut Phageome: Culture Assisted Metagenomics Enables Rapid Discovery and Host-Linking for Novel Bacteriophages. Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2021; 11:616918. [PMID: 33791236 PMCID: PMC8005731 DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2021.616918] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2020] [Accepted: 01/29/2021] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent years have been marked by the growing interest towards virulent and temperate bacteriophage populations inhabiting the human lower gastrointestinal tract – the gut phageome. A number of studies demonstrated high levels of specificity and temporal stability of individual gut phageomes, as well as their specific alterations in disease cohorts, in parallel with changes in the bacteriome. It has been speculated that phages might have an active role in shaping the taxonomic composition and functional properties of the human gut bacteriome. An overwhelming majority of gut bacteriophages, however, remain uncultured, unclassified, and their specific hosts and infection strategies are still unknown. They are often referred to as “the viral dark matter”. A possible breakthrough in understanding of the phageome can only become possible when a significant proportion of the “the viral dark matter” is identified and linked to bacterial hosts. Here, we describe a method that enables rapid discovery and host-linking of novel bacteriophages in the gut via a combination of serial enrichment cultures and shotgun metagenomics of viral DNA. Using this approach dozens of novel and previously known bacteriophages were detected, including the ones infecting difficult-to-culture anaerobic bacteria. The majority of phages failed to produce lysis and propagate on host cultures in traditional assays. The newly identified phages include representatives of Siphoviridae, Myoviridae, Podoviridae, and crAss-like viruses, infecting diverse bacterial taxa of Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, Verrucomicrobia and Proteobacteria phyla. The proposed new method has a potential for high-throughput screening applications for mass discovery of new phages in different environments.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - R Paul Ross
- APC Microbiome Ireland, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
| | - Colin Hill
- APC Microbiome Ireland, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
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Moon K, Cho JC. Metaviromics coupled with phage-host identification to open the viral 'black box'. J Microbiol 2021; 59:311-323. [PMID: 33624268 DOI: 10.1007/s12275-021-1016-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2021] [Revised: 01/28/2021] [Accepted: 01/28/2021] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Viruses are found in almost all biomes on Earth, with bacteriophages (phages) accounting for the majority of viral particles in most ecosystems. Phages have been isolated from natural environments using the plaque assay and liquid medium-based dilution culturing. However, phage cultivation is restricted by the current limitations in the number of culturable bacterial strains. Unlike prokaryotes, which possess universally conserved 16S rRNA genes, phages lack universal marker genes for viral taxonomy, thus restricting cultureindependent analyses of viral diversity. To circumvent these limitations, shotgun viral metagenome sequencing (i.e., metaviromics) has been developed to enable the extensive sequencing of a variety of viral particles present in the environment and is now widely used. Using metaviromics, numerous studies on viral communities have been conducted in oceans, lakes, rivers, and soils, resulting in many novel phage sequences. Furthermore, auxiliary metabolic genes such as ammonic monooxygenase C and β-lactamase have been discovered in viral contigs assembled from viral metagenomes. Current attempts to identify putative bacterial hosts of viral metagenome sequences based on sequence homology have been limited due to viral sequence variations. Therefore, culture-independent approaches have been developed to predict bacterial hosts using single-cell genomics and fluorescentlabeling. This review focuses on recent viral metagenome studies conducted in natural environments, especially in aquatic ecosystems, and their contributions to phage ecology. Here, we concluded that although metaviromics is a key tool for the study of viral ecology, this approach must be supplemented with phage-host identification, which in turn requires the cultivation of phage-bacteria systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kira Moon
- Biological Resources Utilization Division, Honam National Institute of Biological Resources, Mokpo, 58762, Republic of Korea
| | - Jang-Cheon Cho
- Department of Biological Sciences and Bioengineering, Inha University, Incheon, 22212, Republic of Korea.
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18
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Lamy-Besnier Q, Brancotte B, Ménager H, Debarbieux L. Viral Host Range database, an online tool for recording, analyzing and disseminating virus-host interactions. Bioinformatics 2021; 37:2798-2801. [PMID: 33594411 PMCID: PMC8428608 DOI: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btab070] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2020] [Revised: 01/11/2021] [Accepted: 02/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Motivation Viruses are ubiquitous in the living world, and their ability to infect more than one host defines their host range. However, information about which virus infects which host, and about which host is infected by which virus, is not readily available. Results We developed a web-based tool called the Viral Host Range database to record, analyze and disseminate experimental host range data for viruses infecting archaea, bacteria and eukaryotes. Availability and implementation The ViralHostRangeDB application is available from https://viralhostrangedb.pasteur.cloud. Its source code is freely available from the Gitlab instance of Institut Pasteur (https://gitlab.pasteur.fr/hub/viralhostrangedb).
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Affiliation(s)
- Quentin Lamy-Besnier
- Bacteriophage, Bacterium, Host Laboratory, Department of Microbiology, Institut Pasteur, Paris, F-75015, France.,Université de Paris, Paris, France
| | - Bryan Brancotte
- Bioinformatics and Biostatistics, Institut Pasteur, Paris, F-75015, France
| | - Hervé Ménager
- Bioinformatics and Biostatistics, Institut Pasteur, Paris, F-75015, France
| | - Laurent Debarbieux
- Bacteriophage, Bacterium, Host Laboratory, Department of Microbiology, Institut Pasteur, Paris, F-75015, France
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Khan Mirzaei M, Deng L. Sustainable Microbiome: a symphony orchestrated by synthetic phages. Microb Biotechnol 2021; 14:45-50. [PMID: 33171009 PMCID: PMC7888444 DOI: 10.1111/1751-7915.13697] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2020] [Accepted: 10/19/2020] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
We are surrounded by microbes, mostly bacteria and their viruses or phages, on the inside and outside of our bodies. These bacteria in constant interactions with phages are regulating multiple functions critical to our health. Luckily, they are amenable, but we need precise tools for their safe manipulation and improving human health. Here, we argue that recent advances in single-cell technologies, culturomics and synthetic biology offer exciting opportunities to create these tools as well as revealing specific phages-bacteria interactions in the body.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohammadali Khan Mirzaei
- Institute of VirologyHelmholtz Centre Munich and Technical University of MunichNeuherbergBavaria85764Germany
| | - Li Deng
- Institute of VirologyHelmholtz Centre Munich and Technical University of MunichNeuherbergBavaria85764Germany
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