Identification of a novel archaea virus, detected in hydrocarbon polluted Hungarian and Canadian samples

PLoS One. 2020 Apr 17;15(4):e0231864. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0231864. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

Metagenomics is a helpful tool for the analysis of unculturable organisms and viruses. Viruses that target bacteria and archaea play important roles in the microbial diversity of various ecosystems. Here we show that Methanosarcina virus MV (MetMV), the second Methanosarcina sp. virus with a completely determined genome, is characteristic of hydrocarbon pollution in environmental (soil and water) samples. It was highly abundant in Hungarian hydrocarbon polluted samples and its genome was also present in the NCBI SRA database containing reads from hydrocarbon polluted samples collected in Canada, indicating the stability of its niche and the marker feature of this virus. MetMV, as the only currently identified marker virus for pollution in environmental samples, could contribute to the understanding of the complicated network of prokaryotes and their viruses driving the decomposition of environmental pollutants.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Archaea / isolation & purification
  • Archaea / virology*
  • Archaeal Viruses / genetics
  • Archaeal Viruses / isolation & purification*
  • Canada
  • DNA, Viral / chemistry
  • DNA, Viral / metabolism
  • Environmental Pollution / analysis*
  • Genome, Viral
  • Hungary
  • Hydrocarbons / analysis*
  • Soil Microbiology
  • Water Microbiology

Substances

  • DNA, Viral
  • Hydrocarbons

Grants and funding

This work was funded by the Norway Grants (project: HU09-0044-A1-2013) and by the Hungarian Government (project: KFI-16-1-2016-0150246 and 2019-1.1.1-PIACIKFI- 2019-00184). Enviroinvest Corp. and Biocentrum Ltd provided support in the form of salaries for authors J.M., Á.L.K., I.K.N., T.K., B.M., but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific roles of these authors are articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section.