Freshwater Metaviromics and Bacteriophages: A Current Assessment of the State of the Art in Relation to Bioinformatic Challenges

Advances in bioinformatics and sequencing technologies have allowed for the analysis of complex microbial communities at an unprecedented rate. While much focus is often placed on the cellular members of these communities, viruses play a pivotal role, particularly bacteria-infecting viruses (bacteri...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Evolutionary Bioinformatics 2016-06, Vol.2016 (S1), p.25-33
Main Authors: Bruder, Katherine, Malki, Kema, Cooper, Alexandria, Sible, Emily, Shapiro, Jason W, Watkins, Siobhan C, Putonti, Catherine
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bioinformatics
Cell culture
Gene transfer
Horizontal transfer
Identification methods
Metagenomics
Microbial activity
Microorganisms
Phages
Review
Viruses
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Advances in bioinformatics and sequencing technologies have allowed for the analysis of complex microbial communities at an unprecedented rate. While much focus is often placed on the cellular members of these communities, viruses play a pivotal role, particularly bacteria-infecting viruses (bacteriophages); phages mediate global biogeochemical processes and drive microbial evolution through bacterial grazing and horizontal gene transfer. Despite their importance and ubiquity in nature, very little is known about the diversity and structure of viral communities. Though the need for culture-based methods for viral identification has been somewhat circumvented through metagenomic techniques, the analysis of metaviromic data is marred with many unique issues. In this review, we examine the current bioinformatic approaches for metavirome analyses and the inherent challenges facing the field as illustrated by the ongoing efforts in the exploration of freshwater phage populations.
ISSN:1176-9343
1176-9343
DOI:10.4137/EBO.S38549