Perspective on taxonomic classification of uncultivated viruses
Dutilh, Bas E; Varsani, Arvind; Tong, Yigang; Simmonds, Peter; Sabanadzovic, Sead; Rubino, Luisa; Roux, Simon; Muñoz, Alejandro Reyes; Lood, Cédric; Lefkowitz, Elliot J; Kuhn, Jens H; Krupovic, Mart; Edwards, Robert A; Brister, J Rodney; Adriaenssens, Evelien M; Sullivan, Matthew B
(2021) Current Opinion in Virology, volume 51, pp. 207 - 215
(Article)
Abstract
Historically, virus taxonomy has been limited to describing viruses that were readily cultivated in the laboratory or emerging in natural biomes. Metagenomic analyses, single-particle sequencing, and database mining efforts have yielded new sequence data on an astounding number of previously unknown viruses. As metagenomes are relatively free of biases, these
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data provide an unprecedented insight into the vastness of the virosphere, but to properly value the extent of this diversity it is critical that the viruses are taxonomically classified. Inclusion of uncultivated viruses has already improved the process as well as the understanding of the taxa, viruses, and their evolutionary relationships. The continuous development and testing of computational tools will be required to maintain a dynamic virus taxonomy that can accommodate the new discoveries.
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Keywords: Virology
ISSN: 1879-6257
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Note: Funding Information: The authors thank Anya Crane (National Institutes of Health [NIH] National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases [NIAID]) for critically editing the manuscript. The authors are members of the ICTV Virus Bioinformatics Expert Group. BED is supported by the European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator grant 865694: DiversiPHI. CL is supported by the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) SB grant 1S64720N. RAE is supported by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) under Award Number RC2DK116713. SR is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231. This work was also supported in part through Laulima Government Solutions, LLC, prime contract with the NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under Contract No. HHSN272201800013C. JHK performed this work as an employee of Tunnell Government Services (TGS), a subcontractor of Laulima Government Solutions, LLC, under Contract No. HHSN272201800013C. SS acknowledges partial support from the Special Research Initiative (MAFES), Mississippi State University, and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Hatch Project 1021494. EMA acknowledges the support of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC); this research was funded by the BBSRC Institute Strategic Programme Gut Microbes and HealthBB/R012490/1 and its constituent projects BBS/E/F/000PR10353 and BBS/E/F/000PR10356. This research was supported in part by the Intramural Research Program of the National Library of Medicine at the NIH, National Library of Medicine. MBS was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation award ABI#1759874. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results. The views and conclusions contained in this publication are those of the authors. The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views or policies, either expressed or implied, of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) or of the institutions and companies affiliated with the authors. Mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. Funding Information: BED is supported by the European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator grant 865694 : DiversiPHI. CL is supported by the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) SB grant 1S64720N . RAE is supported by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) under Award Number RC2DK116713. SR is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231. This work was also supported in part through Laulima Government Solutions , LLC, prime contract with the NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under Contract No. HHSN272201800013C. JHK performed this work as an employee of Tunnell Government Services (TGS), a subcontractor of Laulima Government Solutions, LLC, under Contract No. HHSN272201800013C. SS acknowledges partial support from the Special Research Initiative ( MAFES ), Mississippi State University , and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture , U.S. Department of Agriculture , Hatch Project 1021494 . EMA acknowledges the support of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC); this research was funded by the BBSRC Institute Strategic Programme Gut Microbes and Health BB/R012490/1 and its constituent projects BBS/E/F/000PR10353 and BBS/E/F/000PR10356. This research was supported in part by the Intramural Research Program of the National Library of Medicine at the NIH, National Library of Medicine . MBS was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation award ABI#1759874. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Authors
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