Globally distributed bacteriophage genomes reveal mechanisms of tripartite phage-bacteria-coral interactions.

ABSTRACT: Reef-building corals depend on an intricate community of microorganisms for functioning and resilience. The infection of coral-associated bacteria by bacteriophages can modify bacterial ecological interactions, yet very little is known about phage functions in the holobiont. This gap stems from methodological limitations that have prevented the recovery of high-quality viral genomes and bacterial host assignment from coral samples. Here, we introduce a size fractionation approach that increased bacterial and viral recovery in coral metagenomes by 9-fold and 2-fold, respectively, and enabled the assembly and binning of bacterial and viral genomes at relatively low sequencing coverage. We combined these viral genomes with those derived from 677 publicly available metagenomes, viromes, and ba

SUBMITTER: Wallace BA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11309003 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature