ViroProfiler: a containerized bioinformatics pipeline for viral metagenomic data analysis

Area of Science:

• Microbial Ecology
• Bioinformatics
• Virology

Background:

• Bacteriophages are crucial for ecosystem function by regulating bacterial populations.
• Limited understanding of bacteriophage diversity stems from a lack of standardized bioinformatics approaches.
• Shotgun viral metagenomics offers potential for exploring viral communities but requires robust analytical tools.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce ViroProfiler, a novel in-silico workflow designed for analyzing shotgun viral metagenomic data.
• To address the need for standardized and reproducible bioinformatics methods in bacteriophage research.
• To facilitate the study of bacteriophage diversity and its ecological roles.

Main Methods:

• Development of ViroProfiler, an integrated bioinformatics pipeline for viral metagenomic analysis.
• Implementation of containerization techniques (e.g., Docker) for ensuring computational reproducibility.
• Design for execution on both local Linux systems and cloud computing platforms.

Main Results:

• ViroProfiler provides a standardized method for analyzing viral metagenomic datasets.
• The workflow enhances the ability to assess bacteriophage diversity and community structure.
• Containerization ensures consistent and reproducible results across different computational environments.

Conclusions:

• ViroProfiler offers a valuable, freely available resource for the scientific community to advance bacteriophage research.
• Standardized bioinformatics workflows are essential for overcoming limitations in understanding viral diversity.
• This tool supports collaborative research and improves the reliability of metagenomic analyses in microbial ecology.