New approaches indicate constant viral diversity despite shifts in assemblage structure in an Australian hypersaline lake.

ABSTRACT: It is widely stated that viruses represent the most significant source of biodiversity on Earth, yet characterizing the diversity of viral assemblages in natural systems remains difficult. Viral diversity studies are challenging because viruses lack universally present, phylogenetically informative genes. Here, we developed an approach to estimate viral diversity using a series of functional and novel conserved genes. This approach provides direct estimates of viral assemblage diversity while retaining resolution at the level of individual viral populations in a natural system. We characterized viral assemblages in eight samples from hypersaline Lake Tyrrell (LT), Victoria, Australia, using 39,636 viral contigs. We defined viral operational taxonomic units (OTUs) in two ways. First, we use

SUBMITTER: Emerson JB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3811486 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature