FLICKR, VICTORAssembling complete viral genomes and large genomic fragments from surface- and deep-ocean samples collected during the Tara Oceans and Malaspina research expeditions, a team of scientists has cataloged 15,222 genetically distinct viruses, according to a study published today (September 21) in Nature. These viruses, which the researchers arranged into 867 genus-level groups, represent the most comprehensive interrogation of the global ocean virome to date.
“We doubled the number of known viral genera, which introduces hundreds of new virus genera, identified 38 viruses which are widespread and abundant throughout the global oceans, and examined genomic features that suggest viruses directly impact global nitrogen and sulphur cycling,” study coauthor Matthew Sullivan of Ohio State University told Environmental Research Web.
Indeed, the world’s oceans are teeming with viruses. In 2013, Joshua Weitz of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta and the University of Tennessee’s Steven Wilhelm estimated that “a liter of seawater collected in marine surface waters typically contains at least 10 billion microbes and 100 billion viruses,” they wrote in The Scientist. But, they added, “the vast majority of [these] remain unidentified and uncharacterized.”
This latest study makes a dent ...
