Trends of Microdiversity Reveal Depth-Dependent Evolutionary Strategies of Viruses in the Mediterranean.

ABSTRACT: The evolutionary interactions between viruses and their prokaryotic hosts remain a little-known aspect of microbial evolution. Most studies on this topic were carried out in pure cultures that challenge one virus with one bacterial clone at a time, which is very removed from real-life situations. Few studies have addressed trends of microdiversity in marine viral communities throughout depth gradients. We analyzed metagenomes from both the cellular and viral fractions of Mediterranean seawater samples spanning the epipelagic to the bathypelagic zones at depths of 15, 45, 60, and 2,000 m during the summer stratification of the water column. We evaluated microdiversity patterns by measuring the accumulation of synonymous and nonsynonymous mutations in viral genes. Our results demonstrated cl

SUBMITTER: Coutinho FH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6832022 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature