New virus found in one-third of all countries may have coevolved with human lineage
- Date:
- July 11, 2019
- Source:
- University of Notre Dame
- Summary:
- A new study has investigated the origin and evolution of a virus called crAssphage, which may have coevolved with human lineage.
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In 2014, a virus called crAssphage that infects bacteria was discovered as part of the body's intestinal environment. Now, a new study has investigated the origin and evolution of this virus, which may have coevolved with human lineage.
Published in Nature Microbiology, a recent study shows that the virus was found in the sewage of more than one-third of the world's countries. Additionally, the makeup of the virus can vary depending on in which country and city someone resides.
"The virus is both highly abundant in the human gut and represents an entirely new viral family. With this study, we were able to expand our understanding of the diversity and evolutionary history of the human microbiome globally," said Kyle Bibby, co-author of the study and associate professor and Wanzek Collegiate Chair in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences. "Our team at Notre Dame has been evaluating the potential uses of this newly identified virus and is developing it as an alternative to E. coli or other fecal indicator bacteria that are not specific to humans, as an indicator of fecal pollution."
The research was completed through a global collaboration of more than 115 scientists from 65 countries, allowing for the collection of a significant amount of sequencing data. This information was sampled from a variety of volunteers and from sewage samplings around the world. Genetic material data were also collected from primates as well as three pre-Columbian Andean mummies and a Tyrollean glacier mummy, which had 5,300-year-old intestinal content.
"We are in debt to all the amazing colleagues around the world who helped us explore the global diversity of this unique virus," said Robert Edwards, project lead and professor of computer science and biology from San Diego State University. "This is truly a world first in the global scope and nature of the project."
Bibby's research on the virus was funded by the National Science Foundation.
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Materials provided by University of Notre Dame. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal Reference:
- Robert A. Edwards, Alejandro A. Vega, Holly M. Norman, Maria Ohaeri, Kyle Levi, Elizabeth A. Dinsdale, Ondrej Cinek, Ramy K. Aziz, Katelyn McNair, Jeremy J. Barr, Kyle Bibby, Stan J. J. Brouns, Adrian Cazares, Patrick A. de Jonge, Christelle Desnues, Samuel L. Díaz Muñoz, Peter C. Fineran, Alexander Kurilshikov, Rob Lavigne, Karla Mazankova, David T. McCarthy, Franklin L. Nobrega, Alejandro Reyes Muñoz, German Tapia, Nicole Trefault, Alexander V. Tyakht, Pablo Vinuesa, Jeroen Wagemans, Alexandra Zhernakova, Frank M. Aarestrup, Gunduz Ahmadov, Abeer Alassaf, Josefa Anton, Abigail Asangba, Emma K. Billings, Vito Adrian Cantu, Jane M. Carlton, Daniel Cazares, Gyu-Sung Cho, Tess Condeff, Pilar Cortés, Mike Cranfield, Daniel A. Cuevas, Rodrigo De la Iglesia, Przemyslaw Decewicz, Michael P. Doane, Nathaniel J. Dominy, Lukasz Dziewit, Bashir Mukhtar Elwasila, A. Murat Eren, Charles Franz, Jingyuan Fu, Cristina Garcia-Aljaro, Elodie Ghedin, Kristen M. Gulino, John M. Haggerty, Steven R. Head, Rene S. Hendriksen, Colin Hill, Heikki Hyöty, Elena N. Ilina, Mitchell T. Irwin, Thomas C. Jeffries, Juan Jofre, Randall E. Junge, Scott T. Kelley, Mohammadali Khan Mirzaei, Martin Kowalewski, Deepak Kumaresan, Steven R. Leigh, David Lipson, Eugenia S. Lisitsyna, Montserrat Llagostera, Julia M. Maritz, Linsey C. Marr, Angela McCann, Shahar Molshanski-Mor, Silvia Monteiro, Benjamin Moreira-Grez, Megan Morris, Lawrence Mugisha, Maite Muniesa, Horst Neve, Nam-phuong Nguyen, Olivia D. Nigro, Anders S. Nilsson, Taylor O’Connell, Rasha Odeh, Andrew Oliver, Mariana Piuri, Aaron J. Prussin II, Udi Qimron, Zhe-Xue Quan, Petra Rainetova, Adán Ramírez-Rojas, Raul Raya, Kim Reasor, Gillian A. O. Rice, Alessandro Rossi, Ricardo Santos, John Shimashita, Elyse N. Stachler, Lars C. Stene, Ronan Strain, Rebecca Stumpf, Pedro J. Torres, Alan Twaddle, MaryAnn Ugochi Ibekwe, Nicolás Villagra, Stephen Wandro, Bryan White, Andy Whiteley, Katrine L. Whiteson, Cisca Wijmenga, Maria M. Zambrano, Henrike Zschach, Bas E. Dutilh. Global phylogeography and ancient evolution of the widespread human gut virus crAssphage. Nature Microbiology, 2019; DOI: 10.1038/s41564-019-0494-6
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