Streamlining CRISPR spacer-based bacterial host predictions to decipher the viral dark matter.

ABSTRACT: Thousands of new phages have recently been discovered thanks to viral metagenomics. These phages are extremely diverse and their genome sequences often do not resemble any known phages. To appreciate their ecological impact, it is important to determine their bacterial hosts. CRISPR spacers can be used to predict hosts of unknown phages, as spacers represent biological records of past phage-bacteria interactions. However, no guidelines have been established to standardize host prediction based on CRISPR spacers. Additionally, there are no tools that use spacers to perform host predictions on large viral datasets. Here, we developed a set of tools that includes all the necessary steps for predicting the hosts of uncharacterized phages. We created a database of >11 million spacers and a prog

SUBMITTER: Dion MB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8034630 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature