454-pyrosequencing: a molecular battiscope for freshwater viral ecology.

ABSTRACT: Viruses, the most abundant biological entities on the planet, are capable of infecting organisms from all three branches of life, although the majority infect bacteria where the greatest degree of cellular diversity lies. However, the characterization and assessment of viral diversity in natural environments is only beginning to become a possibility. Through the development of a novel technique for the harvest of viral DNA and the application of 454 pyrosequencing, a snapshot of the diversity of the DNA viruses harvested from a standing pond on a cattle farm has been obtained. A high abundance of viral genotypes (785) were present within the virome. The absolute numbers of lambdoid and Shiga toxin (Stx) encoding phages detected suggested that the depth of sequencing had enabled recovery of

SUBMITTER: Rooks DJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3954088 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature