Discovery of several thousand highly diverse circular DNA viruses

Tisza MJ, Pastrana DV, Welch NL, Stewart B, Peretti A, Starrett GJ, Pang YYS, Krishnamurthy SR, Pesavento PA, Mcdermott DH, Murphy PM, Whited JL, Miller B, Brenchley J, Rosshart SP, Rehermann B, Doorbar J, Ta'Ala BA, Pletnikova O, Troncoso JC, Resnick SM, Bolduc B, Sullivan MB, Varsani A, Segall AM, Buck CB (2020)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2020

Journal

eLife eLife Sciences Publications

Book Volume: 9

Article Number: e51971

DOI: 10.7554/eLife.51971

Abstract

Although millions of distinct virus species likely exist, only approximately 9000 are catalogued in GenBank’s RefSeq database. We selectively enriched for the genomes of circular DNA viruses in over 70 animal samples, ranging from nematodes to human tissue specimens. A bioinformatics pipeline, Cenote-Taker, was developed to automatically annotate over 2500 complete genomes in a GenBank-compliant format. The new genomes belong to dozens of established and emerging viral families. Some appear to be the result of previously undescribed recombination events between ssDNA and ssRNA viruses. In addition, hundreds of circular DNA elements that do not encode any discernable similarities to previously characterized sequences were identified. To characterize these ‘dark matter’ sequences, we used an artificial neural network to identify candidate viral capsid proteins, several of which formed virus-like particles when expressed in culture. These data further the understanding of viral sequence diversity and allow for high throughput documentation of the virosphere.

Authors with CRIS profile

Stephan Patrick Rosshart

Involved external institutions

National Cancer Institute (NCI)

United States (USA) (US) US National Institutes of Health (NIH)

United States (USA) (US) University of California Davis (UCDAVIS)

United States (USA) (US) Ohio State University

United States (USA) (US) Harvard University

United States (USA) (US) National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK / NIDDKD)

United States (USA) (US) University of Cambridge

United Kingdom (GB) Mililani Mauka Elementary School

United States (USA) (US) Johns Hopkins University (JHU)

United States (USA) (US) National Institute on Aging (NIA)

United States (USA) (US) San Diego State University

United States (USA) (US) Arizona State University (ASU)

United States (USA) (US)

How to cite

APA:

Tisza, M.J., Pastrana, D.V., Welch, N.L., Stewart, B., Peretti, A., Starrett, G.J.,... Buck, C.B. (2020). Discovery of several thousand highly diverse circular DNA viruses. eLife, 9. https://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.51971

MLA:

Tisza, Michael J., et al. "Discovery of several thousand highly diverse circular DNA viruses." eLife 9 (2020).

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