The Unified Human Virome Database: A toolkit for expanded human virome analysis

Area of Science:

• Virology
• Microbiome Research
• Bioinformatics

Background:

• Current viral analysis tools rely on limited, fragmented gastrointestinal viral genomes.
• This limits the identification of viruses from other body sites and requires high-quality genomes.
• Existing databases hinder comprehensive human virome characterization.

Purpose of the Study:

• To create a comprehensive database of high-quality human viral genomes from diverse body sites.
• To develop a toolkit for analyzing viral activity in metagenomic data.
• To apply the toolkit to study viruses in cystic fibrosis airway samples.

Main Methods:

• Compiled 575,497 high-quality, annotated viral genomes from gastrointestinal, airway, skin, and urogenital metagenomes.
• Developed a bioinformatics toolkit for viral characterization and activity assessment.
• Analyzed 1,983 airway metagenomes from cystic fibrosis patients.

Main Results:

• The Unified Human Virome Database (UHVDB) is nearly three times larger than previous databases.
• Over half of detected viruses in airway samples showed no evidence of activity and were transient.
• The toolkit successfully identified and characterized viruses from diverse human sample types.

Conclusions:

• UHVDB significantly enhances the capacity for analyzing the human virome across various body sites.
• The ability to identify potentially active viruses enables more rigorous studies of virus-host interactions.
• This resource expands our understanding of viral contributions to human health and diseases like cystic fibrosis.