A highly abundant bacteriophage discovered in the unknown sequences of human faecal metagenomes

Bas E. Dutilh; Noriko Cassman; Katelyn McNair; Savannah E. Sanchez; Genivaldo G.Z. Silva; Lance Boling; Jeremy J. Barr; Daan R. Speth; Victor Seguritan; Ramy K. Aziz; Ben Felts; Elizabeth A. Dinsdale; John L. Mokili; Robert A. Edwards

doi:10.1038/ncomms5498

A highly abundant bacteriophage discovered in the unknown sequences of human faecal metagenomes

Bas E. Dutilh, Noriko Cassman, Katelyn McNair, Savannah E. Sanchez, Genivaldo G.Z. Silva, Lance Boling, Jeremy J. Barr, Daan R. Speth, Victor Seguritan, Ramy K. Aziz, Ben Felts, Elizabeth A. Dinsdale, John L. Mokili, Robert A. Edwards

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

349 Citations (Scopus)

1 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Metagenomics, or sequencing of the genetic material from a complete microbial community, is a promising tool to discover novel microbes and viruses. Viral metagenomes typically contain many unknown sequences. Here we describe the discovery of a previously unidentified bacteriophage present in the majority of published human faecal metagenomes, which we refer to as crAssphage. Its ∼97kbp genome is six times more abundant in publicly available metagenomes than all other known phages together; it comprises up to 90% and 22% of all reads in virus-like particle (VLP)-derived metagenomes and total community metagenomes, respectively; and it totals 1.68% of all human faecal metagenomic sequencing reads in the public databases. The majority of crAssphage-encoded proteins match no known sequences in the database, which is why it was not detected before. Using a new co-occurrence profiling approach, we predict a Bacteroides host for this phage, consistent with Bacteroides-related protein homologues and a unique carbohydrate-binding domain encoded in the phage genome.

Original language	English
Article number	4498
Number of pages	11
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms5498
Publication status	Published - 24 Jul 2014
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Keywords

metagenomics
faecal metagenomes
bacteriophage
metagenomic sequencing

Access to Document

10.1038/ncomms5498Licence: CC BY-NC-SA

Published versionFinal published version, 1.23 MBLicence: CC BY-NC-SA

Cite this

Dutilh, B. E., Cassman, N., McNair, K., Sanchez, S. E., Silva, G. G. Z., Boling, L., Barr, J. J., Speth, D. R., Seguritan, V., Aziz, R. K., Felts, B., Dinsdale, E. A., Mokili, J. L., & Edwards, R. A. (2014). A highly abundant bacteriophage discovered in the unknown sequences of human faecal metagenomes. Nature Communications, 5, [4498]. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms5498

Dutilh, Bas E. ; Cassman, Noriko ; McNair, Katelyn ; Sanchez, Savannah E. ; Silva, Genivaldo G.Z. ; Boling, Lance ; Barr, Jeremy J. ; Speth, Daan R. ; Seguritan, Victor ; Aziz, Ramy K. ; Felts, Ben ; Dinsdale, Elizabeth A. ; Mokili, John L. ; Edwards, Robert A. / A highly abundant bacteriophage discovered in the unknown sequences of human faecal metagenomes. In: Nature Communications. 2014 ; Vol. 5.

@article{f770588eb25d4af7ade2f7193c1fc74a,

title = "A highly abundant bacteriophage discovered in the unknown sequences of human faecal metagenomes",

abstract = "Metagenomics, or sequencing of the genetic material from a complete microbial community, is a promising tool to discover novel microbes and viruses. Viral metagenomes typically contain many unknown sequences. Here we describe the discovery of a previously unidentified bacteriophage present in the majority of published human faecal metagenomes, which we refer to as crAssphage. Its ∼97kbp genome is six times more abundant in publicly available metagenomes than all other known phages together; it comprises up to 90% and 22% of all reads in virus-like particle (VLP)-derived metagenomes and total community metagenomes, respectively; and it totals 1.68% of all human faecal metagenomic sequencing reads in the public databases. The majority of crAssphage-encoded proteins match no known sequences in the database, which is why it was not detected before. Using a new co-occurrence profiling approach, we predict a Bacteroides host for this phage, consistent with Bacteroides-related protein homologues and a unique carbohydrate-binding domain encoded in the phage genome.",

keywords = "metagenomics, faecal metagenomes, bacteriophage, metagenomic sequencing",

author = "Dutilh, {Bas E.} and Noriko Cassman and Katelyn McNair and Sanchez, {Savannah E.} and Silva, {Genivaldo G.Z.} and Lance Boling and Barr, {Jeremy J.} and Speth, {Daan R.} and Victor Seguritan and Aziz, {Ramy K.} and Ben Felts and Dinsdale, {Elizabeth A.} and Mokili, {John L.} and Edwards, {Robert A.}",

note = "This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article{\textquoteright}s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/",

year = "2014",

month = jul,

day = "24",

doi = "10.1038/ncomms5498",

language = "English",

volume = "5",

journal = "Nature Communications",

issn = "2041-1723",

publisher = "Nature",

}

A highly abundant bacteriophage discovered in the unknown sequences of human faecal metagenomes. / Dutilh, Bas E.; Cassman, Noriko; McNair, Katelyn; Sanchez, Savannah E.; Silva, Genivaldo G.Z.; Boling, Lance; Barr, Jeremy J.; Speth, Daan R.; Seguritan, Victor; Aziz, Ramy K.; Felts, Ben; Dinsdale, Elizabeth A.; Mokili, John L.; Edwards, Robert A.

In: Nature Communications, Vol. 5, 4498, 24.07.2014.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

TY - JOUR

T1 - A highly abundant bacteriophage discovered in the unknown sequences of human faecal metagenomes

AU - Dutilh, Bas E.

AU - Cassman, Noriko

AU - McNair, Katelyn

AU - Sanchez, Savannah E.

AU - Silva, Genivaldo G.Z.

AU - Boling, Lance

AU - Barr, Jeremy J.

AU - Speth, Daan R.

AU - Seguritan, Victor

AU - Aziz, Ramy K.

AU - Felts, Ben

AU - Dinsdale, Elizabeth A.

AU - Mokili, John L.

AU - Edwards, Robert A.

N1 - This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

PY - 2014/7/24

Y1 - 2014/7/24

N2 - Metagenomics, or sequencing of the genetic material from a complete microbial community, is a promising tool to discover novel microbes and viruses. Viral metagenomes typically contain many unknown sequences. Here we describe the discovery of a previously unidentified bacteriophage present in the majority of published human faecal metagenomes, which we refer to as crAssphage. Its ∼97kbp genome is six times more abundant in publicly available metagenomes than all other known phages together; it comprises up to 90% and 22% of all reads in virus-like particle (VLP)-derived metagenomes and total community metagenomes, respectively; and it totals 1.68% of all human faecal metagenomic sequencing reads in the public databases. The majority of crAssphage-encoded proteins match no known sequences in the database, which is why it was not detected before. Using a new co-occurrence profiling approach, we predict a Bacteroides host for this phage, consistent with Bacteroides-related protein homologues and a unique carbohydrate-binding domain encoded in the phage genome.

AB - Metagenomics, or sequencing of the genetic material from a complete microbial community, is a promising tool to discover novel microbes and viruses. Viral metagenomes typically contain many unknown sequences. Here we describe the discovery of a previously unidentified bacteriophage present in the majority of published human faecal metagenomes, which we refer to as crAssphage. Its ∼97kbp genome is six times more abundant in publicly available metagenomes than all other known phages together; it comprises up to 90% and 22% of all reads in virus-like particle (VLP)-derived metagenomes and total community metagenomes, respectively; and it totals 1.68% of all human faecal metagenomic sequencing reads in the public databases. The majority of crAssphage-encoded proteins match no known sequences in the database, which is why it was not detected before. Using a new co-occurrence profiling approach, we predict a Bacteroides host for this phage, consistent with Bacteroides-related protein homologues and a unique carbohydrate-binding domain encoded in the phage genome.

KW - metagenomics

KW - faecal metagenomes

KW - bacteriophage

KW - metagenomic sequencing

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84905041075&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1038/ncomms5498

DO - 10.1038/ncomms5498

M3 - Article

C2 - 25058116

AN - SCOPUS:84905041075

VL - 5

JO - Nature Communications

JF - Nature Communications

SN - 2041-1723

M1 - 4498

ER -

A highly abundant bacteriophage discovered in the unknown sequences of human faecal metagenomes

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this