Human land use impacts viral diversity and abundance in a New Zealand river.

ABSTRACT: Although water-borne viruses have important implications for the health of humans and other animals, little is known about the impact of human land use on viral diversity and evolution in water systems such as rivers. We used metatranscriptomic sequencing to compare the diversity and abundance of viruses at sampling sites along a single river in New Zealand that differed in human land-use impacts, ranging from pristine to urban. From this, we identified 504 putative virus species, of which 97 per cent were novel. Many of the novel viruses were highly divergent and likely included a new subfamily within the Parvoviridae. We identified at least sixty-three virus species that may infect vertebrates-most likely fish and water birds-from the Astroviridae, Birnaviridae, Parvovir

SUBMITTER: French R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9049113 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature