Viral metagenomics

Environmental Shotgun Sequencing (ESS)
         (A) Sampling from habitat
         (B) filtering particles, typically by size
         (C) Lysis and DNA extraction
         (D) cloning and library construction
         (E) sequencing the clones
         (F) sequence assembly into contigs and scaffolds

Viral metagenomics uses metagenomic technologies to detect viral genomic material from diverse environmental and clinical samples.[1][2] Viruses are the most abundant biological entity and are extremely diverse; however, only a small fraction of viruses have been sequenced and only an even smaller fraction have been isolated and cultured.[1][3] Sequencing viruses can be challenging because viruses lack a universally conserved marker gene so gene-based approaches are limited.[3][4] Metagenomics can be used to study and analyze unculturable viruses and has been an important tool in understanding viral diversity and abundance and in the discovery of novel viruses.[1][5][6] For example, metagenomics methods have been used to describe viruses associated with cancerous tumors and in terrestrial ecosystems.[7]

  1. ^ a b c Sommers P, Chatterjee A, Varsani A, Trubl G (September 2021). "Integrating Viral Metagenomics into an Ecological Framework". Annual Review of Virology. 8 (1): 133–158. doi:10.1146/annurev-virology-010421-053015. PMID 34033501.
  2. ^ Grasis JA (2018). "Host-Associated Bacteriophage Isolation and Preparation for Viral Metagenomics". Viral Metagenomics. Methods in Molecular Biology. Vol. 1746. New York, NY: Springer New York. pp. 1–25. doi:10.1007/978-1-4939-7683-6_1. ISBN 978-1-4939-7682-9. PMID 29492882. S2CID 3637163. Retrieved 2022-12-02.
  3. ^ a b Krishnamurthy SR, Wang D (July 2017). "Origins and challenges of viral dark matter". Virus Research. 239: 136–142. doi:10.1016/j.virusres.2017.02.002. PMID 28192164.
  4. ^ Pappas N, Roux S, Hölzer M, Lamkiewicz K, Mock F, Marz M, Dutilh BE (2021). "Virus Bioinformatics". In Bamford DH, Zuckerman M (eds.). Encyclopedia of Virology (4th ed.). Elsevier. pp. 124–132. doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-814515-9.00034-5. ISBN 978-0-12-814516-6. PMC 7567488.
  5. ^ Kristensen DM, Mushegian AR, Dolja VV, Koonin EV (January 2010). "New dimensions of the virus world discovered through metagenomics". Trends in Microbiology. 18 (1): 11–19. doi:10.1016/j.tim.2009.11.003. PMC 3293453. PMID 19942437.
  6. ^ Bernardo P, Albina E, Eloit M, Roumagnac P (May 2013). "[Pathology and viral metagenomics, a recent history]". Médecine/Sciences (in French). 29 (5): 501–508. doi:10.1051/medsci/2013295013. PMID 23732099.
  7. ^ Alavandi SV, Poornima M (September 2012). "Viral metagenomics: a tool for virus discovery and diversity in aquaculture". Indian Journal of Virology. 23 (2): 88–98. doi:10.1007/s13337-012-0075-2. PMC 3550753. PMID 23997432.