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Coral Reef Arks: An In Situ Mesocosm and Toolkit for Assembling Reef Communities
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Reef invertebrate viromics: diversity, host specificity and functional capacity
Patrick W Laffy1, Elisha M Wood-Charlson1, Dmitrij Turaev2
1Australian Institute of Marine Science, PMB 3, Townsville, QLD 4810, Australia.
Environmental Microbiology
|March 26, 2018
Summary
Coral reef invertebrates host unique viral communities, distinct from surrounding waters. These viruses possess genes for host immune suppression, impacting reef health and evolution.
Area of Science:
- Marine Virology
- Coral Reef Ecology
- Genomics
Background:
- Metagenomic studies reveal diverse pelagic viruses with habitat-specific patterns.
- Understanding viruses associated with marine organisms is limited by sampling and computational challenges.
Purpose of the Study:
- To characterize the taxonomic and functional profiles of viruses associated with coral reef invertebrates.
- To investigate host specificity and viral gene functions in reef environments.
Main Methods:
- Targeted viromic analysis of six coral reef invertebrate species and surrounding seawater.
- Operational Taxonomic Unit (OTU) based assessment for viral prevalence.
Main Results:
- Coral reef invertebrates exhibit host species-specific viral assemblages with low sequence identity to known viral genomes.
- Core viral genes for infection mechanisms were common, while auxiliary genes for herbicide resistance and immune suppression were enriched in reef hosts.
- Prevalence of dsDNA viruses (Mimiviridae, Caudovirales, Phycodnaviridae) and abundance of ssDNA viruses (Circoviridae, Parvoviridae, Bidnaviridae, Microviridae) were identified in reef environments and invertebrates.
Conclusions:
- Coral reef viruses form distinct communities associated with specific hosts.
- Viral auxiliary genes may play roles in host immune modulation and pathogenesis within reef ecosystems.
- This study provides a framework for future research on the role of viruses in coral reef organism health and evolution.
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