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MVP: a microbe-phage interaction database

Na L Gao1,2, Chengwei Zhang3,4, Zhanbing Zhang1

  • 1Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of the Ministry of Education, Hubei Key Laboratory of Bioinformatics and Molecular-imaging, Department of Bioinformatics and Systems Biology, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), 430074 Wuhan, Hubei, China.

Nucleic Acids Research
|November 28, 2017
PubMed

Insights

The Microbe Versus Phage (MVP) database catalogs phage-microbe interactions, enabling researchers to select specific phages for targeting bacteria and archaea. This resource aids in understanding and manipulating microbial communities with high precision.

Area of Science:

  • Microbiology
  • Bioinformatics
  • Genomics

Background:

  • Bacteriophages (phages) are crucial for shaping microbial communities through host lysis.
  • Phages exhibit high host specificity, making them valuable for precise microbial manipulation.
  • Environmental microbiota structure is significantly influenced by phage activity.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To create a comprehensive catalog of phage-microbe interactions.
  • To facilitate the selection of phages for targeting specific prokaryotic hosts.
  • To provide a tool for manipulating microbial communities at the species level.

Main Methods:

  • Collected and clustered 50,782 viral sequences into 33,097 unique viral clusters.
  • Identified 26,572 phage-microbe interactions using evidence from diverse sources.
  • Analyzed genomic and metagenomic data for interaction evidence.

Main Results:

  • Cataloged interactions between 18,608 viral clusters and 9,245 prokaryotes.
  • Established 30,321 evidence entries supporting phage-microbe interactions.
  • Calculated host ranges and classified phages into species-, genus-, and family-specific groups.

Conclusions:

  • The MVP database offers a valuable resource for phage-microbe interaction data.
  • MVP enables precise selection of phages for microbial community manipulation.
  • The tool supports research in microbial ecology and phage therapy development.

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