Tissue-Based Universal Virus Detection (TUViD-VM) Protocol for Viral Metagenomics

Area of Science:

• Virology
• Molecular Biology
• Bioinformatics

Background:

• Detecting novel viruses in infected tissues is challenging due to rapid nucleic acid degradation and high host DNA levels.
• Existing virological methods struggle to efficiently identify viruses in complex tissue matrices.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a robust protocol for universal virus detection directly from infected tissues.
• To overcome limitations of tissue-based virus discovery, particularly low viral nucleic acid concentrations.

Main Methods:

• Development of the tissue-based universal virus detection (TUViD-VM) protocol.
• Rigorous reduction of host nucleic acids to enhance viral nucleic acid signal.
• Validation using real-time PCR and next-generation sequencing (NGS).

Main Results:

• The TUViD-VM protocol significantly increased detectable viral nucleic acids.
• Achieved up to a 75,000-fold improvement in virus detection compared to other tested approaches.
• Successfully applied the protocol for virus detection in various tissue types.

Conclusions:

• The TUViD-VM protocol provides a powerful tool for enhancing virus detection in tissue samples.
• It is suitable for metagenomic and virome studies, increasing the probability of discovering novel viruses.
• A bench-top version of the TUViD-VM protocol is now available for widespread use.