Title |
Counts and sequences, observations that continue to change our understanding of viruses in nature |
Author |
K. Eric Wommack*, Daniel J. Nasko, Jessica Chopyk, and Eric G. Sakowski |
Address |
Delaware Biotechnology Institute, University of Delaware, Newark Delaware, USA |
Bibliography |
Journal of Microbiology, 53(3),181-192, 2015,
|
DOI |
10.1007/s12275-015-5068-6
|
Key Words |
informational proteins, viral ecology, viromics |
Abstract |
The discovery of abundant viruses in the oceans and on land
has ushered in a quarter century of groundbreaking advancements
in our understanding of viruses within ecosystems.
Two types of observations from environmental samples -
direct counts of viral particles and viral metagenomic sequences
- have been critical to these discoveries. Accurate
direct counts have established ecosystem-scale trends in the
impacts of viral infection on microbial host populations and
have shown that viral communities within aquatic and soil
environments respond to both short term and seasonal environmental
change. Direct counts have been critical for estimating
viral production rate, a measurement essential to
quantifying the implications of viral infection for the biogeochemical
cycling of nutrients within ecosystems. While
direct counts have defined the magnitude of viral processes;
shotgun sequences of environmental viral DNA - virome
sequences - have enabled researchers to estimate the diversity
and composition of natural viral communities. Virome-enabled
studies have found the virioplankton to contain thousands
of viral genotypes in communities where the most
dominant viral population accounts for a small fraction of
total abundance followed by a long tail of diverse populations.
Detailed examination of long virome sequences has
led to new understanding of genotype-to-phenotype connections
within marine viruses and revealed that viruses carry
metabolic genes that are important to maintaining cellular
energy during viral replication. Increased access to long virome
sequences will undoubtedly reveal more genetic secrets
of viruses and enable us to build a genomics rulebook for
predicting key biological and ecological features of unknown
viruses. |