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Li W, Wang Y, Zhao K, Xu L, Shi T, Ma B, Lv X. Host-virus coevolution drives soil microbial function succession along a millennium land reclamation chronosequence. J Adv Res 2024:S2090-1232(24)00258-3. [PMID: 38960277 DOI: 10.1016/j.jare.2024.06.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2024] [Revised: 06/05/2024] [Accepted: 06/25/2024] [Indexed: 07/05/2024] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Gene exchange between viruses and hosts plays an important role in driving virus-host coevolution, enabling adaptation of both viruses and hosts to environmental changes. However, the mechanisms and functional significance of virus-host gene exchanges over long-term scales remain largely unexplored. OBJECTIVE The present study aimed to gain insights into the role of viruses in virus-host interactions and coevolution by monitoring virome dynamics along a millennium-long land reclamation chronosequence. METHODS We collected 24 soil samples from 8 stages of a millennium-long land reclamation chronosequence, including non-reclamation, and reclamation periods of 10, 50, 100, 300, 500, 700, and 1000 years. We characterized their metagenomes, and identified DNA viruses within these metagenomes. RESULTS Our findings reveal a significant shift in viral community composition after 50 years of land reclamation, but soil viral diversity reached a stable phase approximately 300 years after the initial reclamation. Analysis of the virus-host network showed a scale-free degree distribution and a reduction in complexity over time, with generalist viruses emerging as key facilitators of horizontal gene transfer. CONCLUSION These findings highlight the integral role of viruses, especially generalist types, in mediating gene exchanges between viruses and hosts, thereby influencing the coevolutionary dynamics in soil ecosystems over significant timescales. This study offers novel insights into long-term virus-host interactions, showing how the virome responds to environmental changes, driving shifts in various microbial functions in reclaimed land.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenbing Li
- School of Engineering, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 310018, China; School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 311121, China.
| | - Yiling Wang
- Institute of Soil and Water Resources and Environmental Science, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China; Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Kankan Zhao
- Institute of Soil and Water Resources and Environmental Science, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China; Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Linya Xu
- Institute of Soil and Water Resources and Environmental Science, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China; Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Tingfeng Shi
- Institute of Soil and Water Resources and Environmental Science, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China; Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Bin Ma
- Institute of Soil and Water Resources and Environmental Science, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China; Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China; ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center, Hangzhou 311200, China
| | - Xiaofei Lv
- Department of Environmental Engineering, China Jiliang University, Hangzhou 310018, China.
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Huang D, Xia R, Chen C, Liao J, Chen L, Wang D, Alvarez PJJ, Yu P. Adaptive strategies and ecological roles of phages in habitats under physicochemical stress. Trends Microbiol 2024:S0966-842X(24)00042-8. [PMID: 38433027 DOI: 10.1016/j.tim.2024.02.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2023] [Revised: 02/01/2024] [Accepted: 02/02/2024] [Indexed: 03/05/2024]
Abstract
Bacteriophages (phages) play a vital role in ecosystem functions by influencing the composition, genetic exchange, metabolism, and environmental adaptation of microbial communities. With recent advances in sequencing technologies and bioinformatics, our understanding of the ecology and evolution of phages in stressful environments has substantially expanded. Here, we review the impact of physicochemical environmental stress on the physiological state and community dynamics of phages, the adaptive strategies that phages employ to cope with environmental stress, and the ecological effects of phage-host interactions in stressful environments. Specifically, we highlight the contributions of phages to the adaptive evolution and functioning of microbiomes and suggest that phages and their hosts can maintain a mutualistic relationship in response to environmental stress. In addition, we discuss the ecological consequences caused by phages in stressful environments, encompassing biogeochemical cycling. Overall, this review advances an understanding of phage ecology in stressful environments, which could inform phage-based strategies to improve microbiome performance and ecosystem resilience and resistance in natural and engineering systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dan Huang
- College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Rong Xia
- College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Chengyi Chen
- College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Jingqiu Liao
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
| | - Linxing Chen
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Innovative Genomics Institute, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Dongsheng Wang
- College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Pedro J J Alvarez
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, USA
| | - Pingfeng Yu
- College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China; Innovation Center of Yangtze River Delta, Zhejiang University, Jiashan, 314100, China.
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3
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Zhong ZP, Vik D, Rapp JZ, Zablocki O, Maughan H, Temperton B, Deming JW, Sullivan MB. Lower viral evolutionary pressure under stable versus fluctuating conditions in subzero Arctic brines. MICROBIOME 2023; 11:174. [PMID: 37550784 PMCID: PMC10405475 DOI: 10.1186/s40168-023-01619-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2023] [Accepted: 07/12/2023] [Indexed: 08/09/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Climate change threatens Earth's ice-based ecosystems which currently offer archives and eco-evolutionary experiments in the extreme. Arctic cryopeg brine (marine-derived, within permafrost) and sea ice brine, similar in subzero temperature and high salinity but different in temporal stability, are inhabited by microbes adapted to these extreme conditions. However, little is known about their viruses (community composition, diversity, interaction with hosts, or evolution) or how they might respond to geologically stable cryopeg versus fluctuating sea ice conditions. RESULTS We used long- and short-read viromics and metatranscriptomics to study viruses in Arctic cryopeg brine, sea ice brine, and underlying seawater, recovering 11,088 vOTUs (~species-level taxonomic unit), a 4.4-fold increase of known viruses in these brines. More specifically, the long-read-powered viromes doubled the number of longer (≥25 kb) vOTUs generated and recovered more hypervariable regions by >5-fold compared to short-read viromes. Distribution assessment, by comparing to known viruses in public databases, supported that cryopeg brine viruses were of marine origin yet distinct from either sea ice brine or seawater viruses, while 94% of sea ice brine viruses were also present in seawater. A virus-encoded, ecologically important exopolysaccharide biosynthesis gene was identified, and many viruses (~half of metatranscriptome-inferred "active" vOTUs) were predicted as actively infecting the dominant microbial genera Marinobacter and Polaribacter in cryopeg and sea ice brines, respectively. Evolutionarily, microdiversity (intra-species genetic variations) analyses suggested that viruses within the stable cryopeg brine were under significantly lower evolutionary pressures than those in the fluctuating sea ice environment, while many sea ice brine virus-tail genes were under positive selection, indicating virus-host co-evolutionary arms races. CONCLUSIONS Our results confirmed the benefits of long-read-powered viromics in understanding the environmental virosphere through significantly improved genomic recovery, expanding viral discovery and the potential for biological inference. Evidence of viruses actively infecting the dominant microbes in subzero brines and modulating host metabolism underscored the potential impact of viruses on these remote and underexplored extreme ecosystems. Microdiversity results shed light on different strategies viruses use to evolve and adapt when extreme conditions are stable versus fluctuating. Together, these findings verify the value of long-read-powered viromics and provide foundational data on viral evolution and virus-microbe interactions in Earth's destabilized and rapidly disappearing cryosphere. Video Abstract.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhi-Ping Zhong
- Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
- Department of Microbiology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
- Center of Microbiome Science, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Dean Vik
- Department of Microbiology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
- Center of Microbiome Science, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Josephine Z Rapp
- Department of Biology, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada
- Center for Northern Studies (CEN), Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada
| | - Olivier Zablocki
- Department of Microbiology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
- Center of Microbiome Science, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | | | - Ben Temperton
- School of Biosciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, Devon, UK
| | - Jody W Deming
- School of Oceanography and Astrobiology Program, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
| | - Matthew B Sullivan
- Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
- Department of Microbiology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
- Center of Microbiome Science, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
- Department of Civil, Environmental and Geodetic Engineering, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
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Chhiba V, Pillay P, Mtimka S, Moonsamy G, Kwezi L, Pooe OJ, Tsekoa TL. South Africa's indigenous microbial diversity for industrial applications: A review of the current status and opportunities. Heliyon 2023; 9:e16723. [PMID: 37484259 PMCID: PMC10360602 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e16723] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2022] [Revised: 05/05/2023] [Accepted: 05/25/2023] [Indexed: 07/25/2023] Open
Abstract
The unique metagenomic, metaviromic libraries and indigenous micro diversity within Southern Africa have the potential for global beneficiation in academia and industry. Microorganisms that flourish at high temperatures, adverse pH conditions, and high salinity are likely to have enzyme systems that function efficiently under those conditions. These attributes afford researchers and industries alternative approaches that could replace existing chemical processes. Thus, a better understanding of African microbial/genetic diversity is crucial for the development of "greener" industries. A concerted drive to exploit the potential locked in biological resources has been previously seen with companies such as Diversa Incorporated and Verenium (Badische Anilin-und SodaFabrik-BASF) both building business models that pioneered the production of high-performance specialty enzymes for a variety of different industrial applications. The market potential and accompanying industry offerings have not been fully exploited in South Africa, nor in Africa at large. Utilization of the continent's indigenous microbial repositories could create long-lasting, sustainable growth in various production sectors, providing economic growth in resource-poor regions. By bolstering local manufacture of high-value bio-based products, scientific and engineering discoveries have the potential to generate new industries which in turn would provide employment avenues for many skilled and unskilled laborers. The positive implications of this could play a role in altering the face of business markets on the continent from costly import-driven markets to income-generating export markets. This review focuses on identifying microbially diverse areas located in South Africa while providing a profile for all associated microbial/genetically derived libraries in this country. A comprehensive list of all the relevant researchers and potential key players is presented, mapping out existing research networks for the facilitation of collaboration. The overall aim of this review is to facilitate a coordinated journey of exploration, one which will hopefully realize the value that South Africa's microbial diversity has to offer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Varsha Chhiba
- Future Production: Chemicals Cluster, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Pretoria, South Africa
| | - Priyen Pillay
- Future Production: Chemicals Cluster, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Pretoria, South Africa
| | - Sibongile Mtimka
- Future Production: Chemicals Cluster, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Pretoria, South Africa
- School of Life Sciences, Discipline of Biochemistry, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
| | - Ghaneshree Moonsamy
- Future Production: Chemicals Cluster, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Pretoria, South Africa
| | - Lusisizwe Kwezi
- Future Production: Chemicals Cluster, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Pretoria, South Africa
| | - Ofentse J. Pooe
- School of Life Sciences, Discipline of Biochemistry, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
| | - Tsepo L. Tsekoa
- Future Production: Chemicals Cluster, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Pretoria, South Africa
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Viral and Bacterial Communities Collaborate through Complementary Assembly Processes in Soil to Survive Organochlorine Contamination. Appl Environ Microbiol 2023; 89:e0181022. [PMID: 36809072 PMCID: PMC10056961 DOI: 10.1128/aem.01810-22] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/23/2023] Open
Abstract
The ecological drivers that direct the assembly of viral and host bacterial communities are largely unknown, even though viral-encoded accessory genes help host bacteria survive in polluted environments. To understand the ecological mechanism(s) of viruses and hosts synergistically surviving under organochlorine pesticide (OCP) stress, we investigated the community assembly processes of viruses and bacteria at the taxon and functional gene levels in clean and OCP-contaminated soils in China using a combination of metagenomics/viromics and bioinformatics approaches. We observed a decreased richness of bacterial taxa and functional genes but an increased richness of viral taxa and auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs) in OCP-contaminated soils (from 0 to 2,617.6 mg · kg-1). In OCP-contaminated soils, the assembly of bacterial taxa and genes was dominated by a deterministic process, of which the relative significance was 93.0% and 88.7%, respectively. In contrast, the assembly of viral taxa and AMGs was driven by a stochastic process, which contributed 83.1% and 69.2%, respectively. The virus-host prediction analysis, which indicated Siphoviridae was linked to 75.0% of bacterial phyla, and the higher migration rate of viral taxa and AMGs in OCP-contaminated soil suggested that viruses show promise for the dissemination of functional genes among bacterial communities. Taken together, the results of this study indicated that the stochastic assembly processes of viral taxa and AMGs facilitated bacterial resistance to OCP stress in soils. Moreover, our findings provide a novel avenue for understanding the synergistic interactions between viruses and bacteria from the perspective of microbial ecology, highlighting the significance of viruses in mediating bioremediation of contaminated soils. IMPORTANCE The interaction between viral communities and microbial hosts has been studied extensively, and the viral community affects host community metabolic function through AMGs. Microbial community assembly is the process by which species colonize and interact to establish and maintain communities. This is the first study that aimed to understand the assembly process of bacterial and viral communities under OCP stress. The findings of this study provide information about microbial community responses to OCP stress and reveal the collaborative interactions between viral and bacterial communities to resist pollutant stress. Thereby, we highlight the importance of viruses in soil bioremediation from the perspective of community assembly.
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Identification of Novel Viruses and Their Microbial Hosts from Soils with Long-Term Nitrogen Fertilization and Cover Cropping Management. mSystems 2022; 7:e0057122. [PMID: 36445691 PMCID: PMC9765229 DOI: 10.1128/msystems.00571-22] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Soils are the largest organic carbon reservoir and are key to global biogeochemical cycling, and microbes are the major drivers of carbon and nitrogen transformations in the soil systems. Thus, virus infection-induced microbial mortality could impact soil microbial structure and functions. In this study, we recovered 260 viral operational taxonomic units (vOTUs) in samples collected from soil taken from four nitrogen fertilization (N-fertilization) and cover-cropping practices at an experimental site under continuous cotton production evaluating conservation agricultural management systems for more than 40 years. Only ~6% of the vOTUs identified were clustered with known viruses in the RefSeq database using a gene-sharing network. We found that 14% of 260 vOTUs could be linked to microbial hosts that cover key carbon and nitrogen cycling taxa, including Acidobacteriota, Proteobacteria, Verrucomicrobiota, Firmicutes, and ammonia-oxidizing archaea, i.e., Nitrososphaeria (phylum Thermoproteota). Viral diversity, community structure, and the positive correlation between abundance of a virus and its host indicate that viruses and microbes are more sensitive to N-fertilization than cover-cropping treatment. Viruses may influence key carbon and nitrogen cycling through control of microbial function and host populations (e.g., Chthoniobacterales and Nitrososphaerales). These findings provide an initial view of soil viral ecology and how it is influenced by long-term conservation agricultural management. IMPORTANCE Bacterial viruses are extremely small and abundant particles that can control the microbial abundance and community composition through infection, which gradually showed their vital roles in the ecological process to influence the nutrient flow. Compared to the substrate control, less is known about the influence of soil viruses on microbial community function, and even less is known about microbial and viral diversity in the soil system. To obtain a more complete knowledge of microbial function dynamics, the interaction between microbes and viruses cannot be ignored. To fully understand this process, it is fundamental to get insight into the correlation between the diversity of viral communities and bacteria which could induce these changes.
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Nagel TE, Mutai IJ, Josephs T, Clokie MR. A Brief History of Phage Research and Teaching in Africa. PHAGE (NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y.) 2022; 3:184-193. [PMID: 36793885 PMCID: PMC9917308 DOI: 10.1089/phage.2022.29037.inp] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Theodore Josephs
- Department of Genetics and Genome Biology, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom
| | - Martha R.J. Clokie
- Department of Genetics and Genome Biology, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom
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Busse L, Tisza M, DiRuggiero J. Viruses Ubiquity and Diversity in Atacama Desert Endolithic Communities. Viruses 2022; 14:v14091983. [PMID: 36146789 PMCID: PMC9500819 DOI: 10.3390/v14091983] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2022] [Revised: 08/30/2022] [Accepted: 09/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Viruses are key players in the environment, and recent metagenomic studies have revealed their diversity and genetic complexity. Despite progress in understanding the ecology of viruses in extreme environments, viruses’ dynamics and functional roles in dryland ecosystems, which cover about 45% of the Earth’s land surfaces, remain largely unexplored. This study characterizes virus sequences in the metagenomes of endolithic (within rock) microbial communities ubiquitously found in hyper-arid deserts. Taxonomic classification and network construction revealed the presence of novel and diverse viruses in communities inhabiting calcite, gypsum, and ignimbrite rocks. Viral genome maps show a high level of protein diversity within and across endolithic communities and the presence of virus-encoded auxiliary metabolic genes. Phage-host relationships were predicted by matching tRNA, CRISPR spacer, and protein sequences in the viral and microbial metagenomes. Primary producers and heterotrophic bacteria were found to be putative hosts to some viruses. Intriguingly, viral diversity was not correlated with microbial diversity across rock substrates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leora Busse
- Department of Biology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
| | - Mike Tisza
- The Alkek Center for Metagenomics and Microbiome Research, Department of Molecular Virology and Microbiology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - Jocelyne DiRuggiero
- Department of Biology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Correspondence:
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Cao MM, Liu SY, Bi L, Chen SJ, Wu HY, Ge Y, Han B, Zhang LM, He JZ, Han LL. Distribution Characteristics of Soil Viruses Under Different Precipitation Gradients on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Front Microbiol 2022; 13:848305. [PMID: 35464951 PMCID: PMC9022101 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.848305] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2022] [Accepted: 02/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Viruses are extremely abundant in the soil environment and have potential roles in impacting on microbial population, evolution, and nutrient biogeochemical cycles. However, how environment and climate changes affect soil viruses is still poorly understood. Here, a metagenomic approach was used to investigate the distribution, diversity, and potential biogeochemical impacts of DNA viruses in 12 grassland soils under three precipitation gradients on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, which is one of the most sensitive areas to climate change. A total of 557 viral operational taxonomic units were obtained, spanning 152 viral families from the 30 metagenomes. Both virus-like particles (VLPs) and microbial abundance increased with average annual precipitation. A significant positive correlation of VLP counts was observed with soil water content, total carbon, total nitrogen, soil organic matter, and total phosphorus. Among these biological and abiotic factors, SWC mainly contributed to the variability in VLP abundance. The order Caudovirales (70.1% of the identified viral order) was the predominant viral type in soils from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, with the Siphoviridae family being the most abundant. Remarkably, abundant auxiliary carbohydrate-active enzyme (CAZyme) genes represented by glycoside hydrolases were identified, indicating that soil viruses may play a potential role in the carbon cycle on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. There were more diverse hosts and abundant CAZyme genes in soil with moderate precipitation. Our study provides a strong evidence that changes in precipitation impact not only viral abundance and virus–host interactions in soil but also the viral functional potential, especially carbon cycling.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miao-Miao Cao
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Si-Yi Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,The Zhongke-Ji'an Institute for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Ji'an, China
| | - Li Bi
- Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia
| | - Shu-Jun Chen
- Information Technology Center, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
| | - Hua-Yong Wu
- State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China
| | - Yuan Ge
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Bing Han
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Li-Mei Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Ji-Zheng He
- Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia.,Key Laboratory for Humid Subtropical Eco-Geographical Processes of the Ministry of Education, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, China
| | - Li-Li Han
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
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Bi L, Yu DT, Han LL, Du S, Yuan CY, He JZ, Hu HW. Unravelling the ecological complexity of soil viromes: Challenges and opportunities. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2022; 812:152217. [PMID: 34890674 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.152217] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2021] [Revised: 11/26/2021] [Accepted: 12/02/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Viruses are extremely abundant and ubiquitous in soil, and significantly contribute to various terrestrial ecosystem processes such as biogeochemical nutrient cycling, microbiome regulation and community assembly, and host evolutionary dynamics. Despite their numerous dominance and functional importance, understanding soil viral ecology is a formidable challenge, because of the technological challenges to characterize the abundance, diversity and community compositions of viruses, and their interactions with other organisms in the complex soil environment. Viruses may engage in a myriad of biological interactions within soil food webs across a broad range of spatiotemporal scales and are exposed to various biotic and abiotic disturbances. Current studies on the soil viromes, however, often describe the complexity of their tremendous diversity, but lack of exploring their potential ecological roles. In this article, we summarized the major methods to decipher the ecology of soil viruses, discussed biotic and abiotic factors and global change factors that shape the diversity and composition of soil viromes, and the ecological roles of soil viruses. We also proposed a new framework to understand the ecological complexity of viruses from micro to macro ecosystem scales and to predict and unravel their activities in terrestrial ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Li Bi
- School of Agriculture and Food, Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia
| | - Dan-Ting Yu
- State Key Laboratory for Subtropical Mountain Ecology of the Ministry of Science and Technology and Fujian Province, Fujian Normal University, Fujian 350007, China; School of Geographical Sciences, Fujian Normal University, Fujian 350007, China.
| | - Li-Li Han
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
| | - Shuai Du
- College of Resources and Environment, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China
| | - Cheng-Yu Yuan
- State Key Laboratory for Subtropical Mountain Ecology of the Ministry of Science and Technology and Fujian Province, Fujian Normal University, Fujian 350007, China; School of Geographical Sciences, Fujian Normal University, Fujian 350007, China
| | - Ji-Zheng He
- School of Agriculture and Food, Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia
| | - Hang-Wei Hu
- School of Agriculture and Food, Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia.
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Han LL, Yu DT, Bi L, Du S, Silveira C, Cobián Güemes AG, Zhang LM, He JZ, Rohwer F. Distribution of soil viruses across China and their potential role in phosphorous metabolism. ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOME 2022; 17:6. [PMID: 35130971 PMCID: PMC8822697 DOI: 10.1186/s40793-022-00401-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2021] [Accepted: 01/27/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Viruses are the most abundant biological entities on the planet and drive biogeochemical cycling on a global scale. Our understanding of biogeography of soil viruses and their ecological functions lags significantly behind that of Bacteria and Fungi. Here, a viromic approach was used to investigate the distribution and ecological functions of viruses from 19 soils across China. RESULTS Soil viral community were clustered more significantly by geographical location than type of soil (agricultural and natural). Three clusters of viral communities were identified from North, Southeast and Southwest regions; these clusters differentiated using taxonomic composition and were mainly driven by geographic location and climate factors. A total of 972 viral populations (vOTUs) were detected spanning 23 viral families from the 19 viromes. Phylogenetic analyses of the phoH gene showed a remarkable diversity and the distribution of viral phoH genes was more dependent on the environment. Notably, five proteins involved in phosphorus (P) metabolism-related nucleotide synthesis functions, including dUTPase, MazG, PhoH, Thymidylate synthase complementing protein (Thy1), and Ribonucleoside reductase (RNR), were mainly identified in agricultural soils. CONCLUSIONS The present work revealed that soil viral communities were distributed across China according to geographical location and climate factors. In addition, P metabolism genes encoded by these viruses probably drive the synthesis of nucleotides for their own genomes inside bacterial hosts, thereby affecting P cycling in the soil ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Li-Li Han
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085, China.
- University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
- Department of Biology, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, 92182, USA.
| | - Dan-Ting Yu
- Key Laboratory for Subtropical Mountain Ecology of the Ministry of Science and Technology and Fujian Province, School of Geographical Sciences, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, 350007, Fujian, China.
| | - Li Bi
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085, China
- University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
| | - Shuai Du
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085, China
- College of Resources and Environment, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China
| | - Cynthia Silveira
- Department of Biology, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, 92182, USA
- Viral Information Institute at San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, 92182, USA
- Department of Biology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, 33146, USA
| | - Ana Georgina Cobián Güemes
- Department of Biology, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, 92182, USA
- Viral Information Institute at San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, 92182, USA
| | - Li-Mei Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085, China
- University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
| | - Ji-Zheng He
- Key Laboratory for Subtropical Mountain Ecology of the Ministry of Science and Technology and Fujian Province, School of Geographical Sciences, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, 350007, Fujian, China
| | - Forest Rohwer
- Department of Biology, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, 92182, USA
- Viral Information Institute at San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, 92182, USA
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Makumi A, Mhone AL, Odaba J, Guantai L, Svitek N. Phages for Africa: The Potential Benefit and Challenges of Phage Therapy for the Livestock Sector in Sub-Saharan Africa. Antibiotics (Basel) 2021; 10:antibiotics10091085. [PMID: 34572667 PMCID: PMC8470919 DOI: 10.3390/antibiotics10091085] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2021] [Revised: 08/24/2021] [Accepted: 08/25/2021] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
One of the world’s fastest-growing human populations is in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), accounting for more than 950 million people, which is approximately 13% of the global population. Livestock farming is vital to SSA as a source of food supply, employment, and income. With this population increase, meeting this demand and the choice for a greater income and dietary options come at a cost and lead to the spread of zoonotic diseases to humans. To control these diseases, farmers have opted to rely heavily on antibiotics more often to prevent disease than for treatment. The constant use of antibiotics causes a selective pressure to build resistant bacteria resulting in the emergence and spread of multi-drug resistant (MDR) organisms in the environment. This necessitates the use of alternatives such as bacteriophages in curbing zoonotic pathogens. This review covers the underlying problems of antibiotic use and resistance associated with livestock farming in SSA, bacteriophages as a suitable alternative, what attributes contribute to making bacteriophages potentially valuable for SSA and recent research on bacteriophages in Africa. Furthermore, other topics discussed include the creation of phage biobanks and the challenges facing this kind of advancement, and the regulatory aspects of phage development in SSA with a focus on Kenya.
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Zhong ZP, Tian F, Roux S, Gazitúa MC, Solonenko NE, Li YF, Davis ME, Van Etten JL, Mosley-Thompson E, Rich VI, Sullivan MB, Thompson LG. Glacier ice archives nearly 15,000-year-old microbes and phages. MICROBIOME 2021; 9:160. [PMID: 34281625 PMCID: PMC8290583 DOI: 10.1186/s40168-021-01106-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2021] [Accepted: 05/31/2021] [Indexed: 05/05/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Glacier ice archives information, including microbiology, that helps reveal paleoclimate histories and predict future climate change. Though glacier-ice microbes are studied using culture or amplicon approaches, more challenging metagenomic approaches, which provide access to functional, genome-resolved information and viruses, are under-utilized, partly due to low biomass and potential contamination. RESULTS We expand existing clean sampling procedures using controlled artificial ice-core experiments and adapted previously established low-biomass metagenomic approaches to study glacier-ice viruses. Controlled sampling experiments drastically reduced mock contaminants including bacteria, viruses, and free DNA to background levels. Amplicon sequencing from eight depths of two Tibetan Plateau ice cores revealed common glacier-ice lineages including Janthinobacterium, Polaromonas, Herminiimonas, Flavobacterium, Sphingomonas, and Methylobacterium as the dominant genera, while microbial communities were significantly different between two ice cores, associating with different climate conditions during deposition. Separately, ~355- and ~14,400-year-old ice were subject to viral enrichment and low-input quantitative sequencing, yielding genomic sequences for 33 vOTUs. These were virtually all unique to this study, representing 28 novel genera and not a single species shared with 225 environmentally diverse viromes. Further, 42.4% of the vOTUs were identifiable temperate, which is significantly higher than that in gut, soil, and marine viromes, and indicates that temperate phages are possibly favored in glacier-ice environments before being frozen. In silico host predictions linked 18 vOTUs to co-occurring abundant bacteria (Methylobacterium, Sphingomonas, and Janthinobacterium), indicating that these phages infected ice-abundant bacterial groups before being archived. Functional genome annotation revealed four virus-encoded auxiliary metabolic genes, particularly two motility genes suggest viruses potentially facilitate nutrient acquisition for their hosts. Finally, given their possible importance to methane cycling in ice, we focused on Methylobacterium viruses by contextualizing our ice-observed viruses against 123 viromes and prophages extracted from 131 Methylobacterium genomes, revealing that the archived viruses might originate from soil or plants. CONCLUSIONS Together, these efforts further microbial and viral sampling procedures for glacier ice and provide a first window into viral communities and functions in ancient glacier environments. Such methods and datasets can potentially enable researchers to contextualize new discoveries and begin to incorporate glacier-ice microbes and their viruses relative to past and present climate change in geographically diverse regions globally. Video Abstract.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhi-Ping Zhong
- Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
- Department of Microbiology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
- Center of Microbiome Science, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Funing Tian
- Department of Microbiology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
- Center of Microbiome Science, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Simon Roux
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | | | - Natalie E Solonenko
- Department of Microbiology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
- Center of Microbiome Science, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Yueh-Fen Li
- Department of Microbiology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
- Center of Microbiome Science, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Mary E Davis
- Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - James L Van Etten
- Department of Plant Pathology and Nebraska Center for Virology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA
| | - Ellen Mosley-Thompson
- Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
- Center of Microbiome Science, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
- Department of Geography, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Virginia I Rich
- Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
- Department of Microbiology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
- Center of Microbiome Science, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Matthew B Sullivan
- Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
- Department of Microbiology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
- Center of Microbiome Science, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
- Department of Civil, Environmental and Geodetic Engineering, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
| | - Lonnie G Thompson
- Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
- Center of Microbiome Science, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
- School of Earth Sciences, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
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15
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Pratama AA, Bolduc B, Zayed AA, Zhong ZP, Guo J, Vik DR, Gazitúa MC, Wainaina JM, Roux S, Sullivan MB. Expanding standards in viromics: in silico evaluation of dsDNA viral genome identification, classification, and auxiliary metabolic gene curation. PeerJ 2021; 9:e11447. [PMID: 34178438 PMCID: PMC8210812 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.11447] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/27/2020] [Accepted: 04/22/2021] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Viruses influence global patterns of microbial diversity and nutrient cycles. Though viral metagenomics (viromics), specifically targeting dsDNA viruses, has been critical for revealing viral roles across diverse ecosystems, its analyses differ in many ways from those used for microbes. To date, viromics benchmarking has covered read pre-processing, assembly, relative abundance, read mapping thresholds and diversity estimation, but other steps would benefit from benchmarking and standardization. Here we use in silico-generated datasets and an extensive literature survey to evaluate and highlight how dataset composition (i.e., viromes vs bulk metagenomes) and assembly fragmentation impact (i) viral contig identification tool, (ii) virus taxonomic classification, and (iii) identification and curation of auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs). RESULTS The in silico benchmarking of five commonly used virus identification tools show that gene-content-based tools consistently performed well for long (≥3 kbp) contigs, while k-mer- and blast-based tools were uniquely able to detect viruses from short (≤3 kbp) contigs. Notably, however, the performance increase of k-mer- and blast-based tools for short contigs was obtained at the cost of increased false positives (sometimes up to ∼5% for virome and ∼75% bulk samples), particularly when eukaryotic or mobile genetic element sequences were included in the test datasets. For viral classification, variously sized genome fragments were assessed using gene-sharing network analytics to quantify drop-offs in taxonomic assignments, which revealed correct assignations ranging from ∼95% (whole genomes) down to ∼80% (3 kbp sized genome fragments). A similar trend was also observed for other viral classification tools such as VPF-class, ViPTree and VIRIDIC, suggesting that caution is warranted when classifying short genome fragments and not full genomes. Finally, we highlight how fragmented assemblies can lead to erroneous identification of AMGs and outline a best-practices workflow to curate candidate AMGs in viral genomes assembled from metagenomes. CONCLUSION Together, these benchmarking experiments and annotation guidelines should aid researchers seeking to best detect, classify, and characterize the myriad viruses 'hidden' in diverse sequence datasets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Akbar Adjie Pratama
- Department of Microbiology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America
- Center of Microbiome Science, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America
| | - Benjamin Bolduc
- Department of Microbiology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America
- Center of Microbiome Science, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America
| | - Ahmed A. Zayed
- Department of Microbiology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America
- Center of Microbiome Science, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America
| | - Zhi-Ping Zhong
- Department of Microbiology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America
- Center of Microbiome Science, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America
- Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America
| | - Jiarong Guo
- Department of Microbiology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America
- Center of Microbiome Science, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America
| | - Dean R. Vik
- Department of Microbiology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America
- Center of Microbiome Science, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America
| | | | - James M. Wainaina
- Department of Microbiology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America
- Center of Microbiome Science, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America
- Infectious Diseases Institute at The Ohio State University, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America
| | - Simon Roux
- DOE Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, United States of America
| | - Matthew B. Sullivan
- Department of Microbiology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America
- Center of Microbiome Science, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America
- Environmental and Geodetic Engineering, Ohio State University, Department of Civil, Columbus, OH, United States of America
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Temporal Changes of Virus-Like Particle Abundance and Metagenomic Comparison of Viral Communities in Cropland and Prairie Soils. mSphere 2021; 6:e0116020. [PMID: 34077260 PMCID: PMC8265675 DOI: 10.1128/msphere.01160-20] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
During the last several decades, viruses have been increasingly recognized for their abundance, ubiquity, and important roles in different ecosystems. Despite known contributions to aquatic systems, few studies examine viral abundance and community structure over time in terrestrial ecosystems. The effects of land conversion and land management on soil microbes have been previously investigated, but their effects on virus population are not well studied. This study examined annual dynamics of viral abundance in soils from a native tallgrass prairie and two croplands, conventional till winter wheat and no-till canola, in Oklahoma. Virus-like particle (VLP) abundance varied across sites, and showed clear seasonal shifts. VLP abundance significantly correlated with environmental variables that were generally reflective of land use, including air temperature, soil nitrogen, and plant canopy coverage. Structural equation modeling supported the effects of land use on soil communities by emphasizing interactions between management, environmental factors, and viral and bacterial abundance. Between the viral metagenomes from the prairie and tilled wheat field, 1,231 unique viral operational taxonomic units (vOTUs) were identified, and only five were shared that were rare in the contrasting field. Only 13% of the vOTUs had similarity to previously identified viruses in the RefSeq database, with only 7% having known taxonomic classification. Together, our findings indicated land use and tillage practices influence virus abundance and community structure. Analyses of viromes over time and space are vital to viral ecology in providing insight on viral communities and key information on interactions between viruses, their microbial hosts, and the environment. IMPORTANCE Conversion of land alters the physiochemical and biological environments by not only changing the aboveground community, but also modifying the soil environment for viruses and microbes. Soil microbial communities are critical to nutrient cycling, carbon mineralization, and soil quality; and viruses are known for influencing microbial abundance, community structure, and evolution. Therefore, viruses are considered an important part of soil functions in terrestrial ecosystems. In aquatic environments, virus abundance generally exceeds bacterial counts by an order of magnitude, and they are thought to be one of the greatest genetic reservoirs on the planet. However, data are extremely limited on viruses in soils, and even less is known about their responses to the disturbances associated with land use and management. The study provides important insights into the temporal dynamics of viral abundance and the structure of viral communities in response to the common practice of turning native habitats into arable soils.
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Schulze-Makuch D, Lipus D, Arens FL, Baqué M, Bornemann TLV, de Vera JP, Flury M, Frösler J, Heinz J, Hwang Y, Kounaves SP, Mangelsdorf K, Meckenstock RU, Pannekens M, Probst AJ, Sáenz JS, Schirmack J, Schloter M, Schmitt-Kopplin P, Schneider B, Uhl J, Vestergaard G, Valenzuela B, Zamorano P, Wagner D. Microbial Hotspots in Lithic Microhabitats Inferred from DNA Fractionation and Metagenomics in the Atacama Desert. Microorganisms 2021; 9:microorganisms9051038. [PMID: 34065975 PMCID: PMC8151210 DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms9051038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2021] [Revised: 04/29/2021] [Accepted: 05/05/2021] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
The existence of microbial activity hotspots in temperate regions of Earth is driven by soil heterogeneities, especially the temporal and spatial availability of nutrients. Here we investigate whether microbial activity hotspots also exist in lithic microhabitats in one of the most arid regions of the world, the Atacama Desert in Chile. While previous studies evaluated the total DNA fraction to elucidate the microbial communities, we here for the first time use a DNA separation approach on lithic microhabitats, together with metagenomics and other analysis methods (i.e., ATP, PLFA, and metabolite analysis) to specifically gain insights on the living and potentially active microbial community. Our results show that hypolith colonized rocks are microbial hotspots in the desert environment. In contrast, our data do not support such a conclusion for gypsum crust and salt rock environments, because only limited microbial activity could be observed. The hypolith community is dominated by phototrophs, mostly Cyanobacteria and Chloroflexi, at both study sites. The gypsum crusts are dominated by methylotrophs and heterotrophic phototrophs, mostly Chloroflexi, and the salt rocks (halite nodules) by phototrophic and halotolerant endoliths, mostly Cyanobacteria and Archaea. The major environmental constraints in the organic-poor arid and hyperarid Atacama Desert are water availability and UV irradiation, allowing phototrophs and other extremophiles to play a key role in desert ecology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dirk Schulze-Makuch
- Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Technische Universität Berlin, 10623 Berlin, Germany; (F.L.A.); (J.H.); (Y.H.); (J.S.)
- GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Section Geomicrobiology, Telegrafenberg, 14473 Potsdam, Germany; (D.L.); (B.S.)
- Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Department of Experimental Limnology, 16775 Stechlin, Germany
- School of the Environment, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99163, USA
- Correspondence: (D.S.-M.); (D.W.); Tel.: +49-(30)-314-23736 (D.S.-M.); +49-(331)-288-28800 (D.W.)
| | - Daniel Lipus
- GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Section Geomicrobiology, Telegrafenberg, 14473 Potsdam, Germany; (D.L.); (B.S.)
| | - Felix L. Arens
- Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Technische Universität Berlin, 10623 Berlin, Germany; (F.L.A.); (J.H.); (Y.H.); (J.S.)
| | - Mickael Baqué
- German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Planetary Research, 12489 Berlin, Germany;
| | - Till L. V. Bornemann
- Environmental Microbiology and Biotechnology, Department of Chemistry, University of Duisburg-Essen, 45141 Essen, Germany; (T.L.V.B.); (J.F.); (R.U.M.); (M.P.); (A.J.P.)
| | - Jean-Pierre de Vera
- German Aerospace Center (DLR), Microgravity User Support Center (MUSC), 51147 Cologne, Germany;
| | - Markus Flury
- Department of Crop and Soil Science, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164, USA;
- Department of Crop and Soil Science, Washington State University, Puyallup, WA 98371, USA
| | - Jan Frösler
- Environmental Microbiology and Biotechnology, Department of Chemistry, University of Duisburg-Essen, 45141 Essen, Germany; (T.L.V.B.); (J.F.); (R.U.M.); (M.P.); (A.J.P.)
| | - Jacob Heinz
- Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Technische Universität Berlin, 10623 Berlin, Germany; (F.L.A.); (J.H.); (Y.H.); (J.S.)
| | - Yunha Hwang
- Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Technische Universität Berlin, 10623 Berlin, Germany; (F.L.A.); (J.H.); (Y.H.); (J.S.)
| | - Samuel P. Kounaves
- Department of Chemistry, Tufts University, Boston, MA 02155, USA;
- Department of Earth Science & Engineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK
| | - Kai Mangelsdorf
- GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Section Organic Geochemistry, 14473 Potsdam, Germany;
| | - Rainer U. Meckenstock
- Environmental Microbiology and Biotechnology, Department of Chemistry, University of Duisburg-Essen, 45141 Essen, Germany; (T.L.V.B.); (J.F.); (R.U.M.); (M.P.); (A.J.P.)
| | - Mark Pannekens
- Environmental Microbiology and Biotechnology, Department of Chemistry, University of Duisburg-Essen, 45141 Essen, Germany; (T.L.V.B.); (J.F.); (R.U.M.); (M.P.); (A.J.P.)
| | - Alexander J. Probst
- Environmental Microbiology and Biotechnology, Department of Chemistry, University of Duisburg-Essen, 45141 Essen, Germany; (T.L.V.B.); (J.F.); (R.U.M.); (M.P.); (A.J.P.)
| | - Johan S. Sáenz
- Research Unit for Comparative Microbiome Analysis, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Ingolstädter Landstr. 1, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany; (J.S.S.); (M.S.)
| | - Janosch Schirmack
- Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Technische Universität Berlin, 10623 Berlin, Germany; (F.L.A.); (J.H.); (Y.H.); (J.S.)
| | - Michael Schloter
- Research Unit for Comparative Microbiome Analysis, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Ingolstädter Landstr. 1, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany; (J.S.S.); (M.S.)
| | - Philippe Schmitt-Kopplin
- Research Unit Analytical BioGeoChemistry, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Ingolstädter Landstr. 1, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany; (P.-S.K.); (J.U.)
| | - Beate Schneider
- GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Section Geomicrobiology, Telegrafenberg, 14473 Potsdam, Germany; (D.L.); (B.S.)
- Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM), 12205 Berlin, Germany
| | - Jenny Uhl
- Research Unit Analytical BioGeoChemistry, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Ingolstädter Landstr. 1, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany; (P.-S.K.); (J.U.)
| | - Gisle Vestergaard
- Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, 2800 Lyngby, Denmark;
| | - Bernardita Valenzuela
- Laboratorio de Microorganismos Extremófilos, Instituto Antofagasta, Universidad de Antofagasta, Av. Angamos 601, Antofagasta 1240000, Chile; (B.V.); (P.Z.)
| | - Pedro Zamorano
- Laboratorio de Microorganismos Extremófilos, Instituto Antofagasta, Universidad de Antofagasta, Av. Angamos 601, Antofagasta 1240000, Chile; (B.V.); (P.Z.)
| | - Dirk Wagner
- GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Section Geomicrobiology, Telegrafenberg, 14473 Potsdam, Germany; (D.L.); (B.S.)
- Institute of Geosciences, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24-25, 14476 Potsdam, Germany
- Correspondence: (D.S.-M.); (D.W.); Tel.: +49-(30)-314-23736 (D.S.-M.); +49-(331)-288-28800 (D.W.)
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Kumar N, Gupta AK, Sudan SK, Pal D, Randhawa V, Sahni G, Mayilraj S, Kumar M. Abundance and Diversity of Phages, Microbial Taxa, and Antibiotic Resistance Genes in the Sediments of the River Ganges Through Metagenomic Approach. Microb Drug Resist 2021; 27:1336-1354. [PMID: 33913739 DOI: 10.1089/mdr.2020.0431] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/21/2023] Open
Abstract
In this study, we have analyzed the metagenomic DNA from the pooled sediment sample of the river Ganges to explore the abundance and diversity of phages, microbial community, and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Utilizing data from Illumina platform, 4,174 (∼0.0013%) reads were classified for the 285 different DNA viruses largely dominated by the group of 260 distinctive phages (3,602 reads, ∼86.3%). Among all, Microcystis (782 hits), Haemophilus (403), Synechococcus (386), Pseudomonas (279), Enterococcus (232), Bacillus (196), Rhodococcus (166), Caulobacter (163), Salmonella (146), Enterobacteria (143), Mycobacterium and (128) phages show the highest abundance and account for ∼90% of the total identified phages. In addition, we have also identified corresponding host pertaining to these phages. Mainly, Proteobacteria (∼69.3%) dominates the microbial population structure. Primarily, orders such as Caulobacterales (∼28%), Burkholderiales (∼13.9%), Actinomycetales (∼13.7%), and Pseudomonadales (∼7.5%) signify the core section. Furthermore, 21,869 (∼0.00695%) reads were classified in 20 ARG types (classes) and 240 ARGs (subtypes), among which 4 ARG types, namely multidrug resistance (12,041 reads, ∼55%), bacitracin (3,202 reads, ∼15%), macrolide-lincosamide-streptogramin (1,744 reads, ∼7.98%), and fosmidomycin (990 reads, ∼4.53%), have the highest abundance. Simultaneously, six resistance mechanisms were also recognized with the dominance of antibiotic efflux (72.8%, 15,919 reads). The results unveil the distribution of (pro)-phages; microbial community; and various ARGs in the Ganges river sediments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Narender Kumar
- Division of Protein Science and Engineering, Institute of Microbial Technology, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Chandigarh, India
| | - Amit Kumar Gupta
- Virology Unit and Bioinformatics Centre, and Institute of Microbial Technology, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Chandigarh, India
| | - Sarabjeet Kour Sudan
- Division of Protein Science and Engineering, Institute of Microbial Technology, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Chandigarh, India
| | - Deepika Pal
- MTCC-Microbial Type Culture Collection and Gene Bank, Institute of Microbial Technology, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Chandigarh, India
| | - Vinay Randhawa
- Virology Unit and Bioinformatics Centre, and Institute of Microbial Technology, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Chandigarh, India
| | - Girish Sahni
- Division of Protein Science and Engineering, Institute of Microbial Technology, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Chandigarh, India
| | - Shanmugam Mayilraj
- MTCC-Microbial Type Culture Collection and Gene Bank, Institute of Microbial Technology, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Chandigarh, India
| | - Manoj Kumar
- Virology Unit and Bioinformatics Centre, and Institute of Microbial Technology, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Chandigarh, India
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Nguyen M, Wemheuer B, Laffy PW, Webster NS, Thomas T. Taxonomic, functional and expression analysis of viral communities associated with marine sponges. PeerJ 2021; 9:e10715. [PMID: 33604175 PMCID: PMC7863781 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.10715] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2020] [Accepted: 12/15/2020] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Viruses play an essential role in shaping the structure and function of ecological communities. Marine sponges have the capacity to filter large volumes of ‘virus-laden’ seawater through their bodies and host dense communities of microbial symbionts, which are likely accessible to viral infection. However, despite the potential of sponges and their symbionts to act as viral reservoirs, little is known about the sponge-associated virome. Here we address this knowledge gap by analysing metagenomic and (meta-) transcriptomic datasets from several sponge species to determine what viruses are present and elucidate their predicted and expressed functionality. Sponges were found to carry diverse, abundant and active bacteriophages as well as eukaryotic viruses belonging to the Megavirales and Phycodnaviridae. These viruses contain and express auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs) for photosynthesis and vitamin synthesis as well as for the production of antimicrobials and the defence against toxins. These viral AMGs can therefore contribute to the metabolic capacities of their hosts and also potentially enhance the survival of infected cells. This suggest that viruses may play a key role in regulating the abundance and activities of members of the sponge holobiont.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mary Nguyen
- Centre for Marine Science and Innovation & School of Biological & Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Bernd Wemheuer
- Centre for Marine Science and Innovation & School of Biological & Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Patrick W Laffy
- Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville, QLD, Australia
| | - Nicole S Webster
- Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville, QLD, Australia.,Australian Centre for Ecogenomics, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Torsten Thomas
- Centre for Marine Science and Innovation & School of Biological & Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
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Bi L, Yu DT, Du S, Zhang LM, Zhang LY, Wu CF, Xiong C, Han LL, He JZ. Diversity and potential biogeochemical impacts of viruses in bulk and rhizosphere soils. Environ Microbiol 2020; 23:588-599. [PMID: 32249528 DOI: 10.1111/1462-2920.15010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2019] [Revised: 03/30/2020] [Accepted: 03/31/2020] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Viruses can affect microbial dynamics, metabolism and biogeochemical cycles in aquatic ecosystems. However, viral diversity and functions in agricultural soils are poorly known, especially in the rhizosphere. We used virome analysis of eight rhizosphere and bulk soils to study viral diversity and potential biogeochemical impacts in an agro-ecosystem. The order Caudovirales was the predominant viral type in agricultural soils, with Siphoviridae being the most abundant family. Phylogenetic analysis of the terminase large subunit of Caudovirales identified high viral diversity and three novel groups. Viral community composition differed significantly between bulk and rhizosphere soils. Soil pH was the main environmental driver of the viral community structure. Remarkably, abundant auxiliary carbohydrate-active enzyme (CAZyme) genes were detected in viromes, including glycoside hydrolases, carbohydrate esterases and carbohydrate-binding modules. These results demonstrate that virus-encoded putative auxiliary metabolic genes or metabolic genes that may change bacterial metabolism and indirectly contribute to biogeochemical cycling, especially carbon cycling, in agricultural soil.
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Affiliation(s)
- Li Bi
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
| | - Dan-Ting Yu
- Institute of Geography, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, 350007, China
| | - Shuai Du
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
| | - Li-Mei Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
| | - Li-Yu Zhang
- School of Environment and Energy, Shenzhen Graduate School, Peking University, Shenzhen, 518055, China
| | - Chuan-Fa Wu
- Key Laboratory of Agro-ecological Processes in Subtropical Region, Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hunan, 410125, China
| | - Chao Xiong
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
| | - Li-Li Han
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
| | - Ji-Zheng He
- Institute of Geography, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, 350007, China.,Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, 3010, Australia
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21
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Göller PC, Haro-Moreno JM, Rodriguez-Valera F, Loessner MJ, Gómez-Sanz E. Uncovering a hidden diversity: optimized protocols for the extraction of dsDNA bacteriophages from soil. MICROBIOME 2020; 8:17. [PMID: 32046783 PMCID: PMC7014677 DOI: 10.1186/s40168-020-0795-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2019] [Accepted: 01/20/2020] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Bacteriophages (phages) are the most numerous biological entities on Earth and play a crucial role in shaping microbial communities. Investigating the bacteriophage community from soil will shed light not only on the yet largely unknown phage diversity, but may also result in novel insights towards their functioning in the global biogeochemical nutrient cycle and their significance in earthbound ecosystems. Unfortunately, information about soil viromes is rather scarce compared to aquatic environments, due to the heterogeneous soil matrix, which rises major technical difficulties in the extraction process. Resolving these technical challenges and establishing a standardized extraction protocol is, therefore, a fundamental prerequisite for replicable results and comparative virome studies. RESULTS We here report the optimization of protocols for the extraction of phage DNA from agricultural soil preceding metagenomic analysis such that the protocol can equally be harnessed for phage isolation. As an optimization strategy, soil samples were spiked with Listeria phage A511 (Myovirus), Staphylococcus phage 2638AΔLCR (Siphovirus) and Escherichia phage T7 (Podovirus) (each 106 PFU/g soil). The efficacy of phage (i) elution, (ii) filtration, (iii) concentration and (iv) DNA extraction methods was tested. Successful extraction routes were selected based on spiked phage recovery and low bacterial 16S rRNA gene contaminants. Natural agricultural soil viromes were then extracted with the optimized methods and shotgun sequenced. Our approach yielded sufficient amounts of inhibitor-free viral DNA for shotgun sequencing devoid of amplification prior library preparation, and low 16S rRNA gene contamination levels (≤ 0.2‰). Compared to previously published protocols, the number of bacterial read contamination was decreased by 65%. In addition, 379 novel putative complete soil phage genomes (≤ 235 kb) were obtained from over 13,000 manually identified viral contigs, promising the discovery of a large, previously inaccessible viral diversity. CONCLUSION We have shown a considerably enhanced extraction of the soil phage community by protocol optimization that has proven robust in both culture-dependent as well as through viromic analyses. Our huge data set of manually curated soil viral contigs substantially increases the amount of currently available soil virome data, and provides insights into the yet largely undescribed soil viral sequence space.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pauline C Göller
- Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health, ETH Zurich, 8092, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Jose M Haro-Moreno
- Departamento de Producción Vegetal y Microbiología, Universidad Miguel Hernández, San Juan de Alicante, Alicante, Spain
| | - Francisco Rodriguez-Valera
- Departamento de Producción Vegetal y Microbiología, Universidad Miguel Hernández, San Juan de Alicante, Alicante, Spain
- Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Dolgoprudny, 141701, Russia
| | - Martin J Loessner
- Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health, ETH Zurich, 8092, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Elena Gómez-Sanz
- Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health, ETH Zurich, 8092, Zurich, Switzerland.
- Área de Microbiología Molecular, Centro de Investigación Biomédica de La Rioja (CIBIR), Logroño, Spain.
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22
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Pérez-Losada M, Arenas M, Galán JC, Bracho MA, Hillung J, García-González N, González-Candelas F. High-throughput sequencing (HTS) for the analysis of viral populations. INFECTION GENETICS AND EVOLUTION 2020; 80:104208. [PMID: 32001386 DOI: 10.1016/j.meegid.2020.104208] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2019] [Revised: 01/21/2020] [Accepted: 01/24/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
The development of High-Throughput Sequencing (HTS) technologies is having a major impact on the genomic analysis of viral populations. Current HTS platforms can capture nucleic acid variation across millions of genes for both selected amplicons and full viral genomes. HTS has already facilitated the discovery of new viruses, hinted new taxonomic classifications and provided a deeper and broader understanding of their diversity, population and genetic structure. Hence, HTS has already replaced standard Sanger sequencing in basic and applied research fields, but the next step is its implementation as a routine technology for the analysis of viruses in clinical settings. The most likely application of this implementation will be the analysis of viral genomics, because the huge population sizes, high mutation rates and very fast replacement of viral populations have demonstrated the limited information obtained with Sanger technology. In this review, we describe new technologies and provide guidelines for the high-throughput sequencing and genetic and evolutionary analyses of viral populations and metaviromes, including software applications. With the development of new HTS technologies, new and refurbished molecular and bioinformatic tools are also constantly being developed to process and integrate HTS data. These allow assembling viral genomes and inferring viral population diversity and dynamics. Finally, we also present several applications of these approaches to the analysis of viral clinical samples including transmission clusters and outbreak characterization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marcos Pérez-Losada
- Computational Biology Institute, Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA; CIBIO-InBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto, Campus Agrário de Vairão, Vairão 4485-661, Portugal
| | - Miguel Arenas
- Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Immunology, University of Vigo, 36310 Vigo, Spain; Biomedical Research Center (CINBIO), University of Vigo, 36310 Vigo, Spain.
| | - Juan Carlos Galán
- Microbiology Service, Hospital Ramón y Cajal, Madrid, Spain; CIBER in Epidemiology and Public Health, Spain.
| | - Mª Alma Bracho
- CIBER in Epidemiology and Public Health, Spain; Joint Research Unit "Infection and Public Health" FISABIO-University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain.
| | - Julia Hillung
- Joint Research Unit "Infection and Public Health" FISABIO-University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain; Institute for Integrative Systems Biology (I2SysBio), CSIC-University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain.
| | - Neris García-González
- Joint Research Unit "Infection and Public Health" FISABIO-University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain; Institute for Integrative Systems Biology (I2SysBio), CSIC-University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain.
| | - Fernando González-Candelas
- CIBER in Epidemiology and Public Health, Spain; Joint Research Unit "Infection and Public Health" FISABIO-University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain; Institute for Integrative Systems Biology (I2SysBio), CSIC-University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain.
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23
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Najar IN, Sherpa MT, Das S, Thakur N. Bacterial diversity and functional metagenomics expounding the diversity of xenobiotics, stress, defense and CRISPR gene ontology providing eco-efficiency to Himalayan Hot Springs. Funct Integr Genomics 2020; 20:479-496. [PMID: 31897823 DOI: 10.1007/s10142-019-00723-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2018] [Revised: 10/17/2019] [Accepted: 11/05/2019] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Sikkim is one of the bio-diverse states of India, which harbors diverse alkaline and sulfur rich hot springs in its vicinity. However, there is a dearth of data present in terms of microbial and its functional diversity as only a few hot springs have been studied in this area. Thus, in this regard, microbial and functional diversity of two hot springs by NGS, PLFA, and culture-independent approaches were carried out. PLFA and culture-dependent analysis was complementary as the Gram-positive bacteria were abundant in both the hot springs with the dominance of phylum Firmicutes with Geobacillus. Metagenomic analysis revealed the abundance of Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Firmicutes in both hot springs. Functional metagenomics suggested that both Yumthang and Reshi hot spring possess a diverse set of genes analogous to stress such as genes allied to osmotic, heat shock, and acid stresses; defense analogies such as multidrug resistance efflux pump, multidrug transport system, and β-lactamase; and CRISPR analogues such as related to Cas1, Cas2, Cas3, cmr1-5 proteins, CT1972, and CT1133 gene families. The xenobiotic analogues were found against benzoate, nitrotolune, xylene, DDT, and chlorocyclohexane/chlorobenzene degradation. Thus, these defensive mechanisms against environmental and anthropogenic hiccups and hindrances provide the eco-efficiency to such thermal habitats. The higher enzymatic, degradation, defense, stress potential and the lower percentage identity (< 95%) of isolates encourage the further exploration and exploitation of these habitats for industrial and biotechnological purposes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ishfaq Nabi Najar
- Department of Microbiology, School of Life Sciences, Sikkim University, 6th Mile, Samdur, Tadong, Gangtok, Sikkim, 737102, India
| | - Mingma Thundu Sherpa
- Department of Microbiology, School of Life Sciences, Sikkim University, 6th Mile, Samdur, Tadong, Gangtok, Sikkim, 737102, India
| | - Sayak Das
- Department of Microbiology, School of Life Sciences, Sikkim University, 6th Mile, Samdur, Tadong, Gangtok, Sikkim, 737102, India
| | - Nagendra Thakur
- Department of Microbiology, School of Life Sciences, Sikkim University, 6th Mile, Samdur, Tadong, Gangtok, Sikkim, 737102, India.
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Biomolecular Engineering, Korean Advance Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, South Korea.
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24
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Van Goethem MW, Swenson TL, Trubl G, Roux S, Northen TR. Characteristics of Wetting-Induced Bacteriophage Blooms in Biological Soil Crust. mBio 2019; 10:e02287-19. [PMID: 31848272 PMCID: PMC6918073 DOI: 10.1128/mbio.02287-19] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2019] [Accepted: 11/07/2019] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) are photosynthetic "hot spots" in deserts and cover ∼12% of the Earth's terrestrial surface, and yet they face an uncertain future given expected shifts in rainfall events. Laboratory wetting of biocrust communities is known to cause a bloom of Firmicutes which rapidly become dominant community members within 2 days after emerging from a sporulated state. We hypothesized that their bacteriophages (phages) would respond to such a dramatic increase in their host's abundance. In our experiment, wetting caused Firmicutes to bloom and triggered a significant depletion of cyanobacterial diversity. We used genome-resolved metagenomics to link phage to their hosts and found that the bloom of the genus Bacillus correlated with a dramatic increase in the number of Caudovirales phages targeting these diverse spore-formers (r = 0.762). After 2 days, we observed dramatic reductions in the relative abundances of Bacillus, while the number of Bacillus phages continued to increase, suggestive of a predator-prey relationship. We found predicted auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs) associated with sporulation in several Caudovirales genomes, suggesting that phages may influence and even benefit from sporulation dynamics in biocrusts. Prophage elements and CRISPR-Cas repeats in Firmicutes metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) provide evidence of recent infection events by phages, which were corroborated by mapping viral contigs to their host MAGs. Combined, these findings suggest that the blooming Firmicutes become primary targets for biocrust Caudovirales phages, consistent with the classical "kill-the-winner" hypothesis.IMPORTANCE This work forms part of an overarching research theme studying the effects of a changing climate on biological soil crust (biocrust) in the Southwestern United States. To our knowledge, this study was the first to characterize bacteriophages in biocrust and offers a view into the ecology of phages in response to a laboratory wetting experiment. The phages identified here represent lineages of Caudovirales, and we found that the dynamics of their interactions with their Firmicutes hosts explain the collapse of a bacterial bloom that was induced by wetting. Moreover, we show that phages carried host-altering metabolic genes and found evidence of proviral infection and CRISPR-Cas repeats within host genomes. Our results suggest that phages exert controls on population density by lysing dominant bacterial hosts and that they further impact biocrust by acquiring host genes for sporulation. Future research should explore how dominant these phages are in other biocrust communities and quantify how much the control and lysis of blooming populations contributes to nutrient cycling in biocrusts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marc W Van Goethem
- Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Tami L Swenson
- Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Gareth Trubl
- Physical and Life Sciences Directorate, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California, USA
| | - Simon Roux
- DOE Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California, USA
| | - Trent R Northen
- Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, USA
- DOE Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California, USA
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25
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Jung P, Schermer M, Briegel-Williams L, Baumann K, Leinweber P, Karsten U, Lehnert L, Achilles S, Bendix J, Büdel B. Water availability shapes edaphic and lithic cyanobacterial communities in the Atacama Desert. JOURNAL OF PHYCOLOGY 2019; 55:1306-1318. [PMID: 31378942 DOI: 10.1111/jpy.12908] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2018] [Accepted: 07/05/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
In the Atacama Desert, cyanobacteria grow on various substrates such as soils (edaphic) and quartz or granitoid stones (lithic). Both edaphic and lithic cyanobacterial communities have been described but no comparison between both communities of the same locality has yet been undertaken. In the present study, we compared both cyanobacterial communities along a precipitation gradient ranging from the arid National Park Pan de Azúcar (PA), which resembles a large fog oasis in the Atacama Desert extending to the semiarid Santa Gracia Natural Reserve (SG) further south, as well as along a precipitation gradient within PA. Various microscopic techniques, as well as culturing and partial 16S rRNA sequencing, were applied to identify 21 cyanobacterial species; the diversity was found to decline as precipitation levels decreased. Additionally, under increasing xeric stress, lithic community species composition showed higher divergence from the surrounding edaphic community, resulting in indigenous hypolithic and chasmoendolithic cyanobacterial communities. We conclude that rain and fog water, respectively, cause contrasting trends regarding cyanobacterial species richness in the edaphic and lithic microhabitats.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrick Jung
- Plant Ecology and Systematics, University of Kaiserslautern, Erwin-Schrödinger-Straße 13, 67663, Kaiserslautern, Germany
| | - Michael Schermer
- Plant Ecology and Systematics, University of Kaiserslautern, Erwin-Schrödinger-Straße 13, 67663, Kaiserslautern, Germany
| | - Laura Briegel-Williams
- Plant Ecology and Systematics, University of Kaiserslautern, Erwin-Schrödinger-Straße 13, 67663, Kaiserslautern, Germany
| | - Karen Baumann
- Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Science, Soil Science, University of Rostock, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 6, 18051, Rostock, Germany
| | - Peter Leinweber
- Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Science, Soil Science, University of Rostock, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 6, 18051, Rostock, Germany
| | - Ulf Karsten
- Applied Ecology and Phycology, Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Rostock, Albert-Einstein-Straße 3, 18059, Rostock, Germany
| | - Lukas Lehnert
- Faculty of Geography, Philipps-University of Marburg, Deutschhausstraße 10, 35037, Marburg, Germany
| | - Sebastian Achilles
- Faculty of Geography, Philipps-University of Marburg, Deutschhausstraße 10, 35037, Marburg, Germany
| | - Jörg Bendix
- Faculty of Geography, Philipps-University of Marburg, Deutschhausstraße 10, 35037, Marburg, Germany
| | - Burkhard Büdel
- Plant Ecology and Systematics, University of Kaiserslautern, Erwin-Schrödinger-Straße 13, 67663, Kaiserslautern, Germany
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26
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Dávila-Ramos S, Castelán-Sánchez HG, Martínez-Ávila L, Sánchez-Carbente MDR, Peralta R, Hernández-Mendoza A, Dobson ADW, Gonzalez RA, Pastor N, Batista-García RA. A Review on Viral Metagenomics in Extreme Environments. Front Microbiol 2019; 10:2403. [PMID: 31749771 PMCID: PMC6842933 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2019.02403] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/14/2019] [Accepted: 10/04/2019] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Viruses are the most abundant biological entities in the biosphere, and have the ability to infect Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukaryotes. The virome is estimated to be at least ten times more abundant than the microbiome with 107 viruses per milliliter and 109 viral particles per gram in marine waters and sediments or soils, respectively. Viruses represent a largely unexplored genetic diversity, having an important role in the genomic plasticity of their hosts. Moreover, they also play a significant role in the dynamics of microbial populations. In recent years, metagenomic approaches have gained increasing popularity in the study of environmental viromes, offering the possibility of extending our knowledge related to both virus diversity and their functional characterization. Extreme environments represent an interesting source of both microbiota and their virome due to their particular physicochemical conditions, such as very high or very low temperatures and >1 atm hydrostatic pressures, among others. Despite the fact that some progress has been made in our understanding of the ecology of the microbiota in these habitats, few metagenomic studies have described the viromes present in extreme ecosystems. Thus, limited advances have been made in our understanding of the virus community structure in extremophilic ecosystems, as well as in their biotechnological potential. In this review, we critically analyze recent progress in metagenomic based approaches to explore the viromes in extreme environments and we discuss the potential for new discoveries, as well as methodological challenges and perspectives.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sonia Dávila-Ramos
- Centro de Investigación en Dinámica Celular, Instituto de Investigación en Ciencias Básicas y Aplicadas, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Cuernavaca, Mexico
| | - Hugo G. Castelán-Sánchez
- Centro de Investigación en Dinámica Celular, Instituto de Investigación en Ciencias Básicas y Aplicadas, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Cuernavaca, Mexico
| | - Liliana Martínez-Ávila
- Centro de Investigación en Dinámica Celular, Instituto de Investigación en Ciencias Básicas y Aplicadas, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Cuernavaca, Mexico
| | | | - Raúl Peralta
- Centro de Investigación en Dinámica Celular, Instituto de Investigación en Ciencias Básicas y Aplicadas, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Cuernavaca, Mexico
| | - Armando Hernández-Mendoza
- Centro de Investigación en Dinámica Celular, Instituto de Investigación en Ciencias Básicas y Aplicadas, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Cuernavaca, Mexico
| | - Alan D. W. Dobson
- School of Microbiology, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
- Environmental Research Institute, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
| | - Ramón A. Gonzalez
- Centro de Investigación en Dinámica Celular, Instituto de Investigación en Ciencias Básicas y Aplicadas, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Cuernavaca, Mexico
| | - Nina Pastor
- Centro de Investigación en Dinámica Celular, Instituto de Investigación en Ciencias Básicas y Aplicadas, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Cuernavaca, Mexico
| | - Ramón Alberto Batista-García
- Centro de Investigación en Dinámica Celular, Instituto de Investigación en Ciencias Básicas y Aplicadas, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Cuernavaca, Mexico
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27
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Bonetti G, Trevathan-Tackett SM, Carnell PE, Macreadie PI. Implication of Viral Infections for Greenhouse Gas Dynamics in Freshwater Wetlands: Challenges and Perspectives. Front Microbiol 2019; 10:1962. [PMID: 31507569 PMCID: PMC6718870 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2019.01962] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2019] [Accepted: 08/09/2019] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Viruses are non-living, acellular entities, and the most abundant biological agents on earth. They are widely acknowledged as having the capacity to influence global biogeochemical cycles by infecting the bacterial and archaeal populations that regulate carbon and nutrient turnover. Evidence suggests that the majority of viruses in wetlands are bacteriophages, but despite their importance, studies on how viruses control the prokaryotic community and the concomitant impacts on ecosystem function (such as carbon cycling and greenhouse gas flux) in wetlands are rare. Here we investigate virus-prokaryote interactions in freshwater wetland ecosystems in the context of their potential influence on biogeochemical cycling. Specifically, we (1) synthesize existing literature to establish current understanding of virus-prokaryote interactions, focusing on the implications for wetland greenhouse gas dynamics and (2) identify future research priorities. Viral dynamics in freshwater wetlands have received much less attention compared to those in marine ecosystems. However, based on our literature review, within the last 10 years, viral ecology studies on freshwater wetlands have increased twofold. Despite this increase in literature, the potential implication of viral infections on greenhouse gas emission dynamics is still a knowledge gap. We hypothesize that the rate of greenhouse gas emissions and the pool of sequestered carbon could be strongly linked to the type and rate of viral infection. Viral replication mechanism choice will consequently influence the microbial efficiency of organic matter assimilation and thus the ultimate fate of carbon as a greenhouse gas or stored in soils.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giuditta Bonetti
- Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Centre for Integrative Ecology, Deakin University, Burwood, VIC, Australia
| | - Stacey M Trevathan-Tackett
- Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Centre for Integrative Ecology, Deakin University, Burwood, VIC, Australia
| | - Paul E Carnell
- Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Centre for Integrative Ecology, Deakin University, Burwood, VIC, Australia
| | - Peter I Macreadie
- Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Centre for Integrative Ecology, Deakin University, Burwood, VIC, Australia
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28
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Abstract
The Namib Desert is one of the world's only truly coastal desert ecosystem. Until the end of the 1st decade of the twenty-first century, very little was known of the microbiology of this southwestern African desert, with the few reported studies being based solely on culture-dependent approaches. However, from 2010, an intense research program was undertaken by researchers from the University of the Western Cape Institute for Microbial Biotechnology and Metagenomics, and subsequently the University of Pretoria Centre for Microbial Ecology and Genomics, and their collaborators, led to a more detailed understanding of the ecology of the indigenous microbial communities in many Namib Desert biotopes. Namib Desert soils and the associated specialized niche communities are inhabited by a wide array of prokaryotic, lower eukaryotic and virus/phage taxa. These communities are highly heterogeneous on both small and large spatial scales, with community composition impacted by a range of macro- and micro-environmental factors, from water regime to soil particle size. Community functionality is also surprisingly non-homogeneous, with some taxa retaining functionality even under hyper-arid soil conditions, and with subtle changes in gene expression and phylotype abundances even on diel timescales. Despite the growing understanding of the structure and function of Namib Desert microbiomes, there remain enormous gaps in our knowledge. We have yet to quantify many of the processes in these soil communities, from regional nutrient cycling to community growth rates. Despite the progress that has been made, we still have little knowledge of either the role of phages in microbial community dynamics or inter-species interactions. Furthermore, the intense research efforts of the past decade have highlighted the immense scope for future microbiological research in this dynamic, enigmatic and charismatic region of Africa.
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29
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Jin M, Guo X, Zhang R, Qu W, Gao B, Zeng R. Diversities and potential biogeochemical impacts of mangrove soil viruses. MICROBIOME 2019; 7:58. [PMID: 30975205 PMCID: PMC6460857 DOI: 10.1186/s40168-019-0675-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 70] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2018] [Accepted: 03/28/2019] [Indexed: 05/19/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Mangroves are ecologically and economically important forests of the tropics. As one of the most carbon-rich biomes, mangroves account for 11% of the total input of terrestrial carbon into oceans. Although viruses are considered to significantly influence local and global biogeochemical cycles, little information is available regarding the community structure, genetic diversity and ecological roles of viruses in mangrove ecosystems. METHODS Here, we utilised viral metagenomics sequencing and virome-specific bioinformatics tools to study viral communities in six mangrove soil samples collected from different mangrove habitats in Southern China. RESULTS Mangrove soil viruses were found to be largely uncharacterised. Phylogenetic analyses of the major viral groups demonstrated extensive diversity and previously unknown viral clades and suggested that global mangrove viral communities possibly comprise evolutionarily close genotypes. Comparative analysis of viral genotypes revealed that mangrove soil viromes are mainly affected by marine waters, with less influence coming from freshwaters. Notably, we identified abundant auxiliary carbohydrate-active enzyme (CAZyme) genes from mangrove viruses, most of which participate in biolysis of complex polysaccharides, which are abundant in mangrove soils and organism debris. Host prediction results showed that viral CAZyme genes are diverse and probably widespread in mangrove soil phages infecting diverse bacteria of different phyla. CONCLUSIONS Our results showed that mangrove viruses are diverse and probably directly manipulate carbon cycling by participating in biomass recycling of complex polysaccharides, providing the knowledge essential in revealing the ecological roles of viruses in mangrove ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Min Jin
- State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Marine Genetic Resource, Third Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Xiamen, China
| | - Xun Guo
- State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Marine Genetic Resource, Third Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Xiamen, China
| | - Rui Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, College of Ocean and Earth Sciences, Institute of Marine Microbes and Ecospheres, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
| | - Wu Qu
- State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Marine Genetic Resource, Third Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Xiamen, China
- State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, College of Ocean and Earth Sciences, Institute of Marine Microbes and Ecospheres, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
| | - Boliang Gao
- State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Marine Genetic Resource, Third Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Xiamen, China
- State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, College of Ocean and Earth Sciences, Institute of Marine Microbes and Ecospheres, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
| | - Runying Zeng
- State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Marine Genetic Resource, Third Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Xiamen, China
- Fujian Collaborative Innovation Center for Exploitation and Utilization of Marine Biological Resources, Xiamen, China
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van Zyl LJ, Abrahams Y, Stander EA, Kirby-McCollough B, Jourdain R, Clavaud C, Breton L, Trindade M. Novel phages of healthy skin metaviromes from South Africa. Sci Rep 2018; 8:12265. [PMID: 30115980 PMCID: PMC6095929 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-30705-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2017] [Accepted: 07/27/2018] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent skin metagenomic studies have investigated the harbored viral diversity and its possible influence on healthy skin microbial populations, and tried to establish global patterns of skin-phage evolution. However, the detail associated with the phages that potentially play a role in skin health has not been investigated. While skin metagenome and -metavirome studies have indicated that the skin virome is highly site specific and shows marked interpersonal variation, they have not assessed the presence/absence of individual phages. Here, we took a semi-culture independent approach (metaviromic) to better understand the composition of phage communities on skin from South African study participants. Our data set adds over 130 new phage species of the skin to existing databases. We demonstrated that identical phages were present on different individuals and in different body sites, and we conducted a detailed analysis of the structural organization of these phages. We further found that a bacteriophage related to the Staphylococcus capitis phage Stb20 may be a common skin commensal virus potentially regulating its host and its activities on the skin.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leonardo Joaquim van Zyl
- Institute for Microbial Biotechnology and Metagenomics (IMBM), University of the Western Cape, Robert Sobukwe Road, Bellville, Cape Town, South Africa.
| | - Yoonus Abrahams
- Institute for Microbial Biotechnology and Metagenomics (IMBM), University of the Western Cape, Robert Sobukwe Road, Bellville, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Emily Amor Stander
- Institute for Microbial Biotechnology and Metagenomics (IMBM), University of the Western Cape, Robert Sobukwe Road, Bellville, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Bronwyn Kirby-McCollough
- Institute for Microbial Biotechnology and Metagenomics (IMBM), University of the Western Cape, Robert Sobukwe Road, Bellville, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Roland Jourdain
- L'Oréal Research and Innovation, 1 Avenue Eugène Schueller, 93600, Aulnay sous Bois, France
| | - Cécile Clavaud
- L'Oréal Research and Innovation, 1 Avenue Eugène Schueller, 93600, Aulnay sous Bois, France
| | - Lionel Breton
- L'Oréal Research and Innovation, 1 Avenue Eugène Schueller, 93600, Aulnay sous Bois, France
| | - Marla Trindade
- Institute for Microbial Biotechnology and Metagenomics (IMBM), University of the Western Cape, Robert Sobukwe Road, Bellville, Cape Town, South Africa
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31
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Ren J, Bai X, Lu YY, Tang K, Wang Y, Reinert G, Sun F. Alignment-Free Sequence Analysis and Applications. Annu Rev Biomed Data Sci 2018; 1:93-114. [PMID: 31828235 PMCID: PMC6905628 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-biodatasci-080917-013431] [Citation(s) in RCA: 58] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Abstract
Genome and metagenome comparisons based on large amounts of next generation sequencing (NGS) data pose significant challenges for alignment-based approaches due to the huge data size and the relatively short length of the reads. Alignment-free approaches based on the counts of word patterns in NGS data do not depend on the complete genome and are generally computationally efficient. Thus, they contribute significantly to genome and metagenome comparison. Recently, novel statistical approaches have been developed for the comparison of both long and shotgun sequences. These approaches have been applied to many problems including the comparison of gene regulatory regions, genome sequences, metagenomes, binning contigs in metagenomic data, identification of virus-host interactions, and detection of horizontal gene transfers. We provide an updated review of these applications and other related developments of word-count based approaches for alignment-free sequence analysis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jie Ren
- Molecular and Computational Biology Program, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA
| | - Xin Bai
- Molecular and Computational Biology Program, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA
- Centre for Computational Systems Biology, School of Mathematical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Yang Young Lu
- Molecular and Computational Biology Program, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA
| | - Kujin Tang
- Molecular and Computational Biology Program, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA
| | - Ying Wang
- Department of Automation, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China
| | - Gesine Reinert
- Department of Statistics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Fengzhu Sun
- Molecular and Computational Biology Program, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA
- Centre for Computational Systems Biology, School of Mathematical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
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32
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Adesioye FA, Makhalanyane TP, Vikram S, Sewell BT, Schubert WD, Cowan DA. Structural Characterization and Directed Evolution of a Novel Acetyl Xylan Esterase Reveals Thermostability Determinants of the Carbohydrate Esterase 7 Family. Appl Environ Microbiol 2018; 84:e02695-17. [PMID: 29453256 PMCID: PMC5881061 DOI: 10.1128/aem.02695-17] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2017] [Accepted: 01/26/2018] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
A hot desert hypolith metagenomic DNA sequence data set was screened in silico for genes annotated as acetyl xylan esterases (AcXEs). One of the genes identified encoded an ∼36-kDa protein (Axe1NaM1). The synthesized gene was cloned and expressed, and the resulting protein was purified. NaM1 was optimally active at pH 8.5 and 30°C and functionally stable at salt concentrations of up to 5 M. The specific activity and catalytic efficiency were 488.9 U mg-1 and 3.26 × 106 M-1 s-1, respectively. The crystal structure of wild-type NaM1 was solved at a resolution of 2.03 Å, and a comparison with the structures and models of more thermostable carbohydrate esterase 7 (CE7) family enzymes and variants of NaM1 from a directed evolution experiment suggests that reduced side-chain volume of protein core residues is relevant to the thermal stability of NaM1. Surprisingly, a single point mutation (N96S) not only resulted in a simultaneous improvement in thermal stability and catalytic efficiency but also increased the acyl moiety substrate range of NaM1.IMPORTANCE AcXEs belong to nine carbohydrate esterase families (CE1 to CE7, CE12, and CE16), of which CE7 enzymes possess a unique and narrow specificity for acetylated substrates. All structurally characterized members of this family are moderately to highly thermostable. The crystal structure of a novel, mesophilic CE7 AcXE (Axe1NaM1), from a soil metagenome, provides a basis for comparisons with thermostable CE7 enzymes. Using error-prone PCR and site-directed mutagenesis, we enhanced both the stability and activity of the mesophilic AcXE. With comparative structural analyses, we have also identified possible thermal stability determinants. These are valuable for understanding the thermal stability of enzymes within this family and as a guide for future protein engineering of CE7 and other α/β hydrolase enzymes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fiyinfoluwa A Adesioye
- Centre for Microbial Ecology and Genomics, Department of Genetics, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
| | - Thulani P Makhalanyane
- Centre for Microbial Ecology and Genomics, Department of Genetics, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
| | - Surendra Vikram
- Centre for Microbial Ecology and Genomics, Department of Genetics, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
| | - Bryan T Sewell
- Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | | | - Don A Cowan
- Centre for Microbial Ecology and Genomics, Department of Genetics, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
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Yu DT, Han LL, Zhang LM, He JZ. Diversity and Distribution Characteristics of Viruses in Soils of a Marine-Terrestrial Ecotone in East China. MICROBIAL ECOLOGY 2018; 75:375-386. [PMID: 28825127 DOI: 10.1007/s00248-017-1049-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2017] [Accepted: 07/20/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
A substantial gap remains in our understanding of the abundance, diversity, and ecology of viruses in soil although some advances have been achieved in recent years. In this study, four soil samples according to the salinity gradient from shore to inland in East China have been characterized. Results showed that spherical virus particles represented the largest viral component in all of the four samples. The viromes had remarkably different taxonomic compositions, and most of the sequences were derived from single-stranded DNA viruses, especially from families Microviridae and Circoviridae. Compared with viromes from other aquatic and sediment samples, the community compositions of our four soil viromes resembled each other, meanwhile coastal sample virome closely congregated with sediment and hypersaline viromes, and high salinity paddy soil sample virome was similar with surface sediment virome. Phylogenetic analysis of functional genes showed that four viromes have high diversity of the subfamily Gokushovirinae in family Microviridae and most of Circoviridae replicase protein sequences grouped within the CRESS-DNA viruses. This work provided an initial outline of the viral communities in marine-terrestrial ecotone and will improve our understanding of the ecological functions of soil viruses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dan-Ting Yu
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085, China
- University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
| | - Li-Li Han
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085, China.
- University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
| | - Li-Mei Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085, China
- University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
| | - Ji-Zheng He
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085, China.
- University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
- Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, 3010, Australia.
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Segobola J, Adriaenssens E, Tsekoa T, Rashamuse K, Cowan D. Exploring Viral Diversity in a Unique South African Soil Habitat. Sci Rep 2018; 8:111. [PMID: 29311639 PMCID: PMC5758573 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-18461-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2017] [Accepted: 12/12/2017] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
The Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve in the Cape Floral Kingdom in South Africa is known for its unique plant biodiversity. The potential presence of unique microbial and viral biodiversity associated with this unique plant biodiversity led us to explore the fynbos soil using metaviromic techniques. In this study, metaviromes of a soil community from the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve has been characterised in detail for the first time. Metaviromic DNA was recovered from soil and sequenced by Next Generation Sequencing. The MetaVir, MG-RAST and VIROME bioinformatics pipelines were used to analyse taxonomic composition, phylogenetic and functional assessments of the sequences. Taxonomic composition revealed members of the order Caudovirales, in particular the family Siphoviridae, as prevalent in the soil samples and other compared viromes. Functional analysis and other metaviromes showed a relatively high frequency of phage-related and structural proteins. Phylogenetic analysis of PolB, PolB2, terL and T7gp17 genes indicated that many viral sequences are closely related to the order Caudovirales, while the remainder were distinct from known isolates. The use of single virome which only includes double stranded DNA viruses limits this study. Novel phage sequences were detected, presenting an opportunity for future studies aimed at targeting novel genetic resources for applied biotechnology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jane Segobola
- Biosciences Unit, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Pretoria, South Africa
- Centre for Microbial Ecology and Genomics, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
| | - Evelien Adriaenssens
- Centre for Microbial Ecology and Genomics, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
| | - Tsepo Tsekoa
- Biosciences Unit, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Pretoria, South Africa
| | - Konanani Rashamuse
- Biosciences Unit, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Pretoria, South Africa
| | - Don Cowan
- Centre for Microbial Ecology and Genomics, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
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35
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Pratama AA, van Elsas JD. The 'Neglected' Soil Virome - Potential Role and Impact. Trends Microbiol 2018; 26:649-662. [PMID: 29306554 DOI: 10.1016/j.tim.2017.12.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 96] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2017] [Revised: 11/10/2017] [Accepted: 12/11/2017] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
Bacteriophages are among the most abundant and diverse biological units in the biosphere. They have contributed to our understanding of the central dogma of biology and have been instrumental in the evolutionary success of bacterial pathogens. In contrast to our current understanding of marine viral communities, the soil virome and its function in terrestrial ecosystems has remained relatively understudied. Here, we examine, in a comparative fashion, the knowledge gathered from studies performed in soil versus marine settings. We address the information with respect to the abundance, diversity, ecological significance, and effects of, in particular, bacteriophages on their host's evolutionary trajectories. We also identify the main challenges that soil virology faces and the studies that are required to accompany the current developments in marine settings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Akbar Adjie Pratama
- Department of Microbial Ecology, Microbial Ecology - Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands.
| | - Jan Dirk van Elsas
- Department of Microbial Ecology, Microbial Ecology - Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands.
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36
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Williamson KE, Fuhrmann JJ, Wommack KE, Radosevich M. Viruses in Soil Ecosystems: An Unknown Quantity Within an Unexplored Territory. Annu Rev Virol 2017; 4:201-219. [PMID: 28961409 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-virology-101416-041639] [Citation(s) in RCA: 138] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Viral abundance in soils can range from below detection limits in hot deserts to over 1 billion per gram in wetlands. Abundance appears to be strongly influenced by water availability and temperature, but a lack of informational standards creates difficulties for cross-study analysis. Soil viral diversity is severely underestimated and undersampled, although current measures of viral richness are higher for soils than for aquatic ecosystems. Both morphometric and metagenomic analyses have raised questions about the prevalence of nontailed, ssDNA viruses in soils. Soil is complex and critically important to terrestrial biodiversity and human civilization, but impacts of viral activities on soil ecosystem services are poorly understood. While information from aquatic systems and medical microbiology suggests the potential for viral influences on nutrient cycles, food web interactions, gene transfer, and other key processes in soils, very few empirical data are available. To understand the soil virome, much work remains.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kurt E Williamson
- Biology Department, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia 23185;
| | - Jeffry J Fuhrmann
- Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716
| | - K Eric Wommack
- Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716.,Department Biological Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716.,College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716
| | - Mark Radosevich
- Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science Department, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996
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Khan AL, Asaf S, Al-Rawahi A, Lee IJ, Al-Harrasi A. Rhizospheric microbial communities associated with wild and cultivated frankincense producing Boswellia sacra tree. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0186939. [PMID: 29053752 PMCID: PMC5650177 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0186939] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2017] [Accepted: 10/10/2017] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Boswellia sacra, a frankincense producing endemic tree, has been well known for its cultural, religious and economic values. However, the tree has been least explored for the associated microsymbiota in the rhizosphere. The current study elucidates the fungal and bacterial communities of the rhizospheric regions of the wild and cultivated B. sacra tree populations through next generation sequencing. The sequence analysis showed the existence of 1006±8.9 and 60.6±3.1 operational taxonomic unit (OTUs) for bacterial and fungal communities respectively. In fungal communities, five major phyla were found with significantly higher abundance of Ascomycota (60.3%) in wild population and Basidiomycota (52%) in cultivated tree rhizospheres. Among bacterial communities, 31 major phyla were found, with significant distribution of Actinobacteria in wild tree rhizospheres, whereas Proteobacteria and Acidobacteria were highly abundant in cultivated trees. The diversity and abundance of microbiome varied significantly depending upon soil characteristics of the three different populations. In addition, significantly higher glucosidases, cellulases and indole-3-acetic acid were found in cultivated tree’s rhizospheres as compared to wild tree populations. for these plants to survive the harsh arid-land environmental conditions. The current study is a first comprehensive work and advances our knowledge about the core fungal and bacterial microbial microbiome associated with this economically important tree.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abdul Latif Khan
- UoN Chair of Oman’s Medicinal Plants and Marine Natural Products, University of Nizwa, Nizwa, Oman
| | - Sajjad Asaf
- School of Applied Biosciences, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Republic of Korea
| | - Ahmed Al-Rawahi
- UoN Chair of Oman’s Medicinal Plants and Marine Natural Products, University of Nizwa, Nizwa, Oman
| | - In-Jung Lee
- School of Applied Biosciences, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Republic of Korea
| | - Ahmed Al-Harrasi
- UoN Chair of Oman’s Medicinal Plants and Marine Natural Products, University of Nizwa, Nizwa, Oman
- * E-mail:
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Narr A, Nawaz A, Wick LY, Harms H, Chatzinotas A. Soil Viral Communities Vary Temporally and along a Land Use Transect as Revealed by Virus-Like Particle Counting and a Modified Community Fingerprinting Approach (fRAPD). Front Microbiol 2017; 8:1975. [PMID: 29067022 PMCID: PMC5641378 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2017.01975] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2017] [Accepted: 09/25/2017] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Environmental surveys on soil viruses are still rare and mostly anecdotal, i. e., they mostly report on viruses at one location or for only a few sampling dates. Detailed time-series analysis with multiple samples can reveal the spatio-temporal dynamics of viral communities and provide important input as to how viruses interact with their potential hosts and the environment. Such surveys, however, require fast, easy-to-apply and reliable methods. In the present study we surveyed monthly across 13 months the abundance of virus-like particles (VLP) and the structure of the viral communities in soils along a land use transect (i.e., forest, pasture, and cropland). We evaluated 32 procedures to extract VLP from soil using different buffers and mechanical methods. The most efficient extraction was achieved with 1× saline magnesium buffer in combination with 20 min vortexing. For community structure analysis we developed an optimized fingerprinting approach (fluorescent RAPD-PCR; fRAPD) by combining RAPD-PCR with fluorescently labeled primers in order to size the obtained fragments on a capillary sequencing machine. With the concomitantly collected data of soil specific factors and weather data, we were able to find correlations of viral abundance and community structure with environmental variables and sampling site. More specifically, we found that soil specific factors such as pH and total nitrogen content played a significant role in shaping both soil viral abundance and community structure. The fRAPD analysis revealed high temporal changes and clustered the viral communities according to sampling sites. In particular we observed that temperature and rainfall shaped soil viral communities in non-forest sites. In summary our findings suggest that sampling site was a key factor for shaping the abundance and community structure of soil viruses, and when site vegetation was reduced, temperature and rainfall were also important factors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anja Narr
- Department of Environmental Microbiology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research—UFZ, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Ali Nawaz
- Department of Soil Ecology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research—UFZ, Halle/Saale, Germany
| | - Lukas Y. Wick
- Department of Environmental Microbiology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research—UFZ, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Hauke Harms
- Department of Environmental Microbiology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research—UFZ, Leipzig, Germany
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Antonis Chatzinotas
- Department of Environmental Microbiology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research—UFZ, Leipzig, Germany
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
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39
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An Insight into Phage Diversity at Environmental Habitats using Comparative Metagenomics Approach. Curr Microbiol 2017; 75:132-141. [PMID: 28929212 DOI: 10.1007/s00284-017-1357-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2017] [Accepted: 09/12/2017] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
Bacteriophages play significant role in driving microbial diversity; however, little is known about the diversity of phages in different ecosystems. A dynamic predator-prey mechanism called "kill the winner" suggests the elimination of most active bacterial populations through phages. Thus, interaction between phage and host has an effect on the composition of microbial communities in ecosystems. In this study, secondary phage metagenome data from aquatic habitats: wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), fresh, marine, and hot water spring habitat were analyzed using MG-RAST and STAMP tools to explore the diversity of the viruses. Differential relative abundance of phage families-Siphoviridae (34%) and Myoviridae (26%) in WWTP, Myoviridae (30%) and Podoviridae (23%) in fresh water, and Myoviridae (41%) and Podoviridae (8%) in marine-was found to be a discriminating factor among four habitats while Rudiviridae (9%), Globuloviridae (8%), and Lipothrixviridae (1%) were exclusively observed in hot water spring. Subsequently, at genera level, Bpp-1-like virus, Chlorovirus, and T4-like virus were found abundant in WWTP, fresh, and marine habitat, respectively. PCA analysis revealed completely disparate composition of phage in hot water spring from other three ecosystems. Similar analysis of relative abundance of functional features corroborated observations from taxa analysis. Functional features corresponding to phage packaging machinery, replication, integration and excision, and gene transfer discriminated among four habitats. The comparative metagenomics approach exhibited genetically distinct phage communities among four habitats. Results revealed that selective distribution of phage communities would help in understanding the role of phages in food chains, nutrient cycling, and microbial ecology. Study of specific phages would also help in controlling environmental pathogens including MDR bacterial populations using phage therapy approach by selective mining and isolation of phages against specific pathogens persisting in a given environment.
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40
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Genetic and functional diversity of ubiquitous DNA viruses in selected Chinese agricultural soils. Sci Rep 2017; 7:45142. [PMID: 28327667 PMCID: PMC5361096 DOI: 10.1038/srep45142] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2016] [Accepted: 02/15/2017] [Indexed: 01/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Viral community structures in complex agricultural soils are largely unknown. Electron microscopy and viromic analyses were conducted on six typical Chinese agricultural soil samples. Tailed bacteriophages, spherical and filamentous viral particles were identified by the morphological analysis. Based on the metagenomic analysis, single-stranded DNA viruses represented the largest viral component in most of the soil habitats, while the double-stranded DNA viruses belonging to the Caudovirales order were predominanted in Jiangxi-maize soils. The majority of functional genes belonged to the subsystem “phages, prophages, transposable elements, and plasmids”. Non-metric multidimensional analysis of viral community showed that the environment medium type was the most important driving factor for the viral community structure. For the major viral groups detected in all samples (Microviridae and Caudovirales), the two groups gathered viruses from different sites and similar genetic composition, indicating that viral diversity was high on a local point but relatively limited on a global scale. This is a novel report of viral diversity in Chinese agricultural soils, and the abundance, taxonomic, and functional diversity of viruses that were observed in different types of soils will aid future soil virome studies and enhance our understanding of the ecological functions of soil viruses.
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41
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Hesse U, van Heusden P, Kirby BM, Olonade I, van Zyl LJ, Trindade M. Virome Assembly and Annotation: A Surprise in the Namib Desert. Front Microbiol 2017; 8:13. [PMID: 28167933 PMCID: PMC5253355 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2017.00013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2016] [Accepted: 01/03/2017] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Sequencing, assembly, and annotation of environmental virome samples is challenging. Methodological biases and differences in species abundance result in fragmentary read coverage; sequence reconstruction is further complicated by the mosaic nature of viral genomes. In this paper, we focus on biocomputational aspects of virome analysis, emphasizing latent pitfalls in sequence annotation. Using simulated viromes that mimic environmental data challenges we assessed the performance of five assemblers (CLC-Workbench, IDBA-UD, SPAdes, RayMeta, ABySS). Individual analyses of relevant scaffold length fractions revealed shortcomings of some programs in reconstruction of viral genomes with excessive read coverage (IDBA-UD, RayMeta), and in accurate assembly of scaffolds ≥50 kb (SPAdes, RayMeta, ABySS). The CLC-Workbench assembler performed best in terms of genome recovery (including highly covered genomes) and correct reconstruction of large scaffolds; and was used to assemble a virome from a copper rich site in the Namib Desert. We found that scaffold network analysis and cluster-specific read reassembly improved reconstruction of sequences with excessive read coverage, and that strict data filtering for non-viral sequences prior to downstream analyses was essential. In this study we describe novel viral genomes identified in the Namib Desert copper site virome. Taxonomic affiliations of diverse proteins in the dataset and phylogenetic analyses of circovirus-like proteins indicated links to the marine habitat. Considering additional evidence from this dataset we hypothesize that viruses may have been carried from the Atlantic Ocean into the Namib Desert by fog and wind, highlighting the impact of the extended environment on an investigated niche in metagenome studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Uljana Hesse
- Institute for Microbial Biotechnology and Metagenomics, University of the Western CapeBellville, South Africa
- South African National Bioinformatics Institute, University of the Western CapeBellville, South Africa
| | - Peter van Heusden
- South African National Bioinformatics Institute, University of the Western CapeBellville, South Africa
| | - Bronwyn M. Kirby
- Institute for Microbial Biotechnology and Metagenomics, University of the Western CapeBellville, South Africa
| | - Israel Olonade
- Institute for Microbial Biotechnology and Metagenomics, University of the Western CapeBellville, South Africa
| | - Leonardo J. van Zyl
- Institute for Microbial Biotechnology and Metagenomics, University of the Western CapeBellville, South Africa
| | - Marla Trindade
- Institute for Microbial Biotechnology and Metagenomics, University of the Western CapeBellville, South Africa
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Ahlgren NA, Ren J, Lu YY, Fuhrman JA, Sun F. Alignment-free $d_2^*$ oligonucleotide frequency dissimilarity measure improves prediction of hosts from metagenomically-derived viral sequences. Nucleic Acids Res 2016; 45:39-53. [PMID: 27899557 PMCID: PMC5224470 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkw1002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 167] [Impact Index Per Article: 20.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2016] [Accepted: 10/31/2016] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Viruses and their host genomes often share similar oligonucleotide frequency (ONF) patterns, which can be used to predict the host of a given virus by finding the host with the greatest ONF similarity. We comprehensively compared 11 ONF metrics using several k-mer lengths for predicting host taxonomy from among ∼32 000 prokaryotic genomes for 1427 virus isolate genomes whose true hosts are known. The background-subtracting measure [Formula: see text] at k = 6 gave the highest host prediction accuracy (33%, genus level) with reasonable computational times. Requiring a maximum dissimilarity score for making predictions (thresholding) and taking the consensus of the 30 most similar hosts further improved accuracy. Using a previous dataset of 820 bacteriophage and 2699 bacterial genomes, [Formula: see text] host prediction accuracies with thresholding and consensus methods (genus-level: 64%) exceeded previous Euclidian distance ONF (32%) or homology-based (22-62%) methods. When applied to metagenomically-assembled marine SUP05 viruses and the human gut virus crAssphage, [Formula: see text]-based predictions overlapped (i.e. some same, some different) with the previously inferred hosts of these viruses. The extent of overlap improved when only using host genomes or metagenomic contigs from the same habitat or samples as the query viruses. The [Formula: see text] ONF method will greatly improve the characterization of novel, metagenomic viruses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nathan A Ahlgren
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern California, 3616 Trousdale Pkwy Los, Angeles, CA 90089, USA
| | - Jie Ren
- Molecular and Computational Biology Program, University of Southern California, 1050 Childs Way, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA
| | - Yang Young Lu
- Molecular and Computational Biology Program, University of Southern California, 1050 Childs Way, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA
| | - Jed A Fuhrman
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern California, 3616 Trousdale Pkwy Los, Angeles, CA 90089, USA
| | - Fengzhu Sun
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern California, 3616 Trousdale Pkwy Los, Angeles, CA 90089, USA.,Molecular and Computational Biology Program, University of Southern California, 1050 Childs Way, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.,Center for Computational Systems Biology, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China
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43
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Cobián Güemes AG, Youle M, Cantú VA, Felts B, Nulton J, Rohwer F. Viruses as Winners in the Game of Life. Annu Rev Virol 2016; 3:197-214. [DOI: 10.1146/annurev-virology-100114-054952] [Citation(s) in RCA: 158] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Vito Adrian Cantú
- Computational Sciences Research Center, San Diego State University, San Diego, California 92182
| | - Ben Felts
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics, San Diego State University, San Diego, California 92182
| | - James Nulton
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics, San Diego State University, San Diego, California 92182
| | - Forest Rohwer
- Department of Biology, San Diego State University, San Diego, California 92182;
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44
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DeCastro ME, Rodríguez-Belmonte E, González-Siso MI. Metagenomics of Thermophiles with a Focus on Discovery of Novel Thermozymes. Front Microbiol 2016; 7:1521. [PMID: 27729905 PMCID: PMC5037290 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2016.01521] [Citation(s) in RCA: 72] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2016] [Accepted: 09/12/2016] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Microbial populations living in environments with temperatures above 50°C (thermophiles) have been widely studied, increasing our knowledge in the composition and function of these ecological communities. Since these populations express a broad number of heat-resistant enzymes (thermozymes), they also represent an important source for novel biocatalysts that can be potentially used in industrial processes. The integrated study of the whole-community DNA from an environment, known as metagenomics, coupled with the development of next generation sequencing (NGS) technologies, has allowed the generation of large amounts of data from thermophiles. In this review, we summarize the main approaches commonly utilized for assessing the taxonomic and functional diversity of thermophiles through metagenomics, including several bioinformatics tools and some metagenome-derived methods to isolate their thermozymes.
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Affiliation(s)
- María-Eugenia DeCastro
- Grupo EXPRELA, Centro de Investigacións Científicas Avanzadas (CICA), Departamento de Bioloxía Celular e Molecular, Facultade de Ciencias, Universidade da Coruña A Coruña, Spain
| | - Esther Rodríguez-Belmonte
- Grupo EXPRELA, Centro de Investigacións Científicas Avanzadas (CICA), Departamento de Bioloxía Celular e Molecular, Facultade de Ciencias, Universidade da Coruña A Coruña, Spain
| | - María-Isabel González-Siso
- Grupo EXPRELA, Centro de Investigacións Científicas Avanzadas (CICA), Departamento de Bioloxía Celular e Molecular, Facultade de Ciencias, Universidade da Coruña A Coruña, Spain
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45
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Oh S, Yoo D, Liu WT. Metagenomics Reveals a Novel Virophage Population in a Tibetan Mountain Lake. Microbes Environ 2016; 31:173-7. [PMID: 27151658 PMCID: PMC4912154 DOI: 10.1264/jsme2.me16003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2016] [Accepted: 03/14/2016] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Virophages are parasites of giant viruses that infect eukaryotic organisms and may affect the ecology of inland water ecosystems. Despite the potential ecological impact, limited information is available on the distribution, diversity, and hosts of virophages in ecosystems. Metagenomics revealed that virophages were widely distributed in inland waters with various environmental characteristics including salinity and nutrient availability. A novel virophage population was overrepresented in a planktonic microbial community of the Tibetan mountain lake, Lake Qinghai. Our study identified coccolithophores and coccolithovirus-like phycodnaviruses in the same community, which may serve as eukaryotic and viral hosts of the virophage population, respectively.
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Affiliation(s)
- Seungdae Oh
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineerin, Nanyang Technological UniversitySingaporeSingapore
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of IllinoisUrbana-Champaign, Urbana, ILUSA
| | - Dongwan Yoo
- Department of Pathobiology, University of IllinoisUrbana-Champaign, Urbana, ILUSA
| | - Wen-Tso Liu
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of IllinoisUrbana-Champaign, Urbana, ILUSA
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46
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Skvortsov T, de Leeuwe C, Quinn JP, McGrath JW, Allen CCR, McElarney Y, Watson C, Arkhipova K, Lavigne R, Kulakov LA. Metagenomic Characterisation of the Viral Community of Lough Neagh, the Largest Freshwater Lake in Ireland. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0150361. [PMID: 26927795 PMCID: PMC4771703 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0150361] [Citation(s) in RCA: 60] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2015] [Accepted: 02/12/2016] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Lough Neagh is the largest and the most economically important lake in Ireland. It is also one of the most nutrient rich amongst the world’s major lakes. In this study, 16S rRNA analysis of total metagenomic DNA from the water column of Lough Neagh has revealed a high proportion of Cyanobacteria and low levels of Actinobacteria, Acidobacteria, Chloroflexi, and Firmicutes. The planktonic virome of Lough Neagh has been sequenced and 2,298,791 2×300 bp Illumina reads analysed. Comparison with previously characterised lakes demonstrates that the Lough Neagh viral community has the highest level of sequence diversity. Only about 15% of reads had homologs in the RefSeq database and tailed bacteriophages (Caudovirales) were identified as a major grouping. Within the Caudovirales, the Podoviridae and Siphoviridae were the two most dominant families (34.3% and 32.8% of the reads with sequence homology to the RefSeq database), while ssDNA bacteriophages constituted less than 1% of the virome. Putative cyanophages were found to be abundant. 66,450 viral contigs were assembled with the largest one being 58,805 bp; its existence, and that of another 34,467 bp contig, in the water column was confirmed. Analysis of the contigs confirmed the high abundance of cyanophages in the water column.
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Affiliation(s)
- Timofey Skvortsov
- School of Biological Sciences, The Queen’s University of Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
| | - Colin de Leeuwe
- School of Biological Sciences, The Queen’s University of Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
| | - John P. Quinn
- School of Biological Sciences, The Queen’s University of Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
| | - John W. McGrath
- School of Biological Sciences, The Queen’s University of Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
| | - Christopher C. R. Allen
- School of Biological Sciences, The Queen’s University of Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
| | - Yvonne McElarney
- Agri-Food & Biosciences Institute, Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
| | - Catherine Watson
- Agri-Food & Biosciences Institute, Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
| | - Ksenia Arkhipova
- School of Biological Sciences, The Queen’s University of Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
| | - Rob Lavigne
- Laboratory of Gene Technology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Leonid A. Kulakov
- School of Biological Sciences, The Queen’s University of Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
- * E-mail:
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47
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Székely AJ, Breitbart M. Single-stranded DNA phages: from early molecular biology tools to recent revolutions in environmental microbiology. FEMS Microbiol Lett 2016; 363:fnw027. [DOI: 10.1093/femsle/fnw027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 63] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/02/2016] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
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48
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Cai L, Zhang R, He Y, Feng X, Jiao N. Metagenomic Analysis of Virioplankton of the Subtropical Jiulong River Estuary, China. Viruses 2016; 8:v8020035. [PMID: 26848678 PMCID: PMC4776190 DOI: 10.3390/v8020035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2015] [Revised: 01/21/2016] [Accepted: 01/25/2016] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Viruses are the most abundant biological entities in the oceans, and encompass a significant reservoir of genetic diversity. However, little is known about their biodiversity in estuary environments, which represent a highly dynamic and potentially more diverse habitat. Here, we report a metagenomic analysis of the dsDNA viral community from the Jiulong River Estuary (JRE), China, and provide a comparative analysis with other closely related environments. The results showed that the majority of JRE virome did not show any significant similarity to the database. For the major viral group (Caudovirales) detected in the sample, Podoviridae (44.88%) were the most abundant family, followed by Siphoviridae (32.98%) and Myoviridae (17.32%). The two most abundant viruses identified in the virome were phages HTVC010P and HMO-2011, which infect bacteria belonging to marine SAR11 and SAR116 clades, respectively. Two contigs larger than 20 kb, which show similar overall genome architectures to Celeribacter phage P12053L and Thalosomonas phage BA3, respectively, were generated during assembly. Comparative analysis showed that the JRE virome was more similar to marine viromes than to freshwater viromes, and shared a relative coarse-grain genetic overlap (averaging 14.14% ± 1.68%) with other coastal viromes. Our study indicated that the diversity and community structure of the virioplankton found in JRE were mainly affected by marine waters, with less influence from freshwater discharge.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lanlan Cai
- State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, Institute of Marine Microbes and Ecospheres, Xiamen University (Xiang'an), Xiamen 361005, China.
| | - Rui Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, Institute of Marine Microbes and Ecospheres, Xiamen University (Xiang'an), Xiamen 361005, China.
| | - Ying He
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
| | - Xiaoyuan Feng
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
| | - Nianzhi Jiao
- State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, Institute of Marine Microbes and Ecospheres, Xiamen University (Xiang'an), Xiamen 361005, China.
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49
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Zhang X, Niu J, Liang Y, Liu X, Yin H. Metagenome-scale analysis yields insights into the structure and function of microbial communities in a copper bioleaching heap. BMC Genet 2016; 17:21. [PMID: 26781463 PMCID: PMC4717592 DOI: 10.1186/s12863-016-0330-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 66] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2015] [Accepted: 01/13/2016] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Metagenomics allows us to acquire the potential resources from both cultivatable and uncultivable microorganisms in the environment. Here, shotgun metagenome sequencing was used to investigate microbial communities from the surface layer of low grade copper tailings that were industrially bioleached at the Dexing Copper Mine, China. A bioinformatics analysis was further performed to elucidate structural and functional properties of the microbial communities in a copper bioleaching heap. Results Taxonomic analysis revealed unexpectedly high microbial biodiversity of this extremely acidic environment, as most sequences were phylogenetically assigned to Proteobacteria, while Euryarchaeota-related sequences occupied little proportion in this system, assuming that Archaea probably played little role in the bioleaching systems. At the genus level, the microbial community in mineral surface-layer was dominated by the sulfur- and iron-oxidizing acidophiles such as Acidithiobacillus-like populations, most of which were A. ferrivorans-like and A. ferrooxidans-like groups. In addition, Caudovirales were the dominant viral type observed in this extremely environment. Functional analysis illustrated that the principal participants related to the key metabolic pathways (carbon fixation, nitrogen metabolism, Fe(II) oxidation and sulfur metabolism) were mainly identified to be Acidithiobacillus-like, Thiobacillus-like and Leptospirillum-like microorganisms, indicating their vital roles. Also, microbial community harbored certain adaptive mechanisms (heavy metal resistance, low pH adaption, organic solvents tolerance and detoxification of hydroxyl radicals) as they performed their functions in the bioleaching system. Conclusion Our study provides several valuable datasets for understanding the microbial community composition and function in the surface-layer of copper bioleaching heap. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12863-016-0330-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xian Zhang
- School of Minerals Processing and Bioengineering, Central South University, Changsha, China. .,Key Laboratory of Biometallurgy of Ministry of Education, Central South University, Changsha, China.
| | - Jiaojiao Niu
- School of Minerals Processing and Bioengineering, Central South University, Changsha, China. .,Key Laboratory of Biometallurgy of Ministry of Education, Central South University, Changsha, China.
| | - Yili Liang
- School of Minerals Processing and Bioengineering, Central South University, Changsha, China. .,Key Laboratory of Biometallurgy of Ministry of Education, Central South University, Changsha, China.
| | - Xueduan Liu
- School of Minerals Processing and Bioengineering, Central South University, Changsha, China. .,Key Laboratory of Biometallurgy of Ministry of Education, Central South University, Changsha, China.
| | - Huaqun Yin
- School of Minerals Processing and Bioengineering, Central South University, Changsha, China. .,Key Laboratory of Biometallurgy of Ministry of Education, Central South University, Changsha, China.
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50
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Adriaenssens EM, van Zyl LJ, Cowan DA, Trindade MI. Metaviromics of Namib Desert Salt Pans: A Novel Lineage of Haloarchaeal Salterproviruses and a Rich Source of ssDNA Viruses. Viruses 2016; 8:v8010014. [PMID: 26761024 PMCID: PMC4728574 DOI: 10.3390/v8010014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2015] [Revised: 11/26/2015] [Accepted: 12/14/2015] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Viral communities of two different salt pans located in the Namib Desert, Hosabes and Eisfeld, were investigated using a combination of multiple displacement amplification of metaviromic DNA and deep sequencing, and provided comprehensive sequence data on both ssDNA and dsDNA viral community structures. Read and contig annotations through online pipelines showed that the salt pans harbored largely unknown viral communities. Through network analysis, we were able to assign a large portion of the unknown reads to a diverse group of ssDNA viruses. Contigs belonging to the subfamily Gokushovirinae were common in both environmental datasets. Analysis of haloarchaeal virus contigs revealed the presence of three contigs distantly related with His1, indicating a possible new lineage of salterproviruses in the Hosabes playa. Based on viral richness and read mapping analyses, the salt pan metaviromes were novel and most closely related to each other while showing a low degree of overlap with other environmental viromes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Evelien M Adriaenssens
- Centre for Microbial Ecology and Genomics, Genomics Research Institute, University of Pretoria, Natural Sciences II, Lynnwood Road, 0002 Pretoria, South Africa.
| | - Leonardo Joaquim van Zyl
- Institute for Microbial Biotechnology and Metagenomics, University of the Western Cape, 7535 Bellville, Cape Town, South Africa.
| | - Don A Cowan
- Centre for Microbial Ecology and Genomics, Genomics Research Institute, University of Pretoria, Natural Sciences II, Lynnwood Road, 0002 Pretoria, South Africa.
| | - Marla I Trindade
- Institute for Microbial Biotechnology and Metagenomics, University of the Western Cape, 7535 Bellville, Cape Town, South Africa.
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