A novel mobile genetic element with virus-like characteristics is widespread in the world's oceans.

ABSTRACT: While the majority of viruses falls within a handful of well-defined realms, many novel viruses and virus-like genetic elements remain to be discovered. Given the abundance and diversity of small, circular DNA genomes in animal gut viromes, we hypothesized that viruses of similar size might have been overlooked in other environments. Re-analyzing existing ocean virome datasets for small viruses, we discover a novel group of circular mobile genetic elements of ~4.6kb in size, likely with double-stranded DNA, which we term Charybdis elements. Charybdis elements form a singular group based on cohesive gene content, encode around 10 hypothetical genes but apparently contain no virus, transposon or plasmid associated hallmark proteins. They are detected exclusively in marine datasets ranging fr

SUBMITTER: Kirchberger PC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12324425 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature