title: Comparison of deep-water viromes from the atlantic ocean and the mediterranean sea.
abstract: The aim of this study was to compare the composition of two deep-sea viral communities obtained from the Romanche Fracture Zone in the Atlantic Ocean (collected at 5200 m depth) and the southwest Mediterranean Sea (from 2400 m depth) using a pyro-sequencing approach. The results are based on 18.7% and 6.9% of the sequences obtained from the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, respectively, with hits to genomes in the non-redundant viral RefSeq database. The identifiable richness and relative abundance in both viromes were dominated by archaeal and bacterial viruses accounting for 92.3% of the relative abundance in the Atlantic Ocean and for 83.6% in the Mediterranean Sea. Despite characteristic differences in hydrographic features between the sampling sites in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, 440 virus genomes were found in both viromes. An additional 431 virus genomes were identified in the Atlantic Ocean and 75 virus genomes were only found in the Mediterranean Sea. The results indicate that the rather contrasting deep-sea environments of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea share a common core set of virus types constituting the majority of both virus communities in terms of relative abundance (Atlantic Ocean: 81.4%; Mediterranean Sea: 88.7%).
authors: Department of Limnology and Oceanography, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors: Christian
authors: C
authors: Winter
authors: Department of Limnology and Oceanography, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors: Juan A L
authors: JA
authors: Garcia
authors: Observatoire océanologique, Sorbonne Universités, Villefranche/mer, France; Observatoire océanologique, CNRS UMR 7093, Villefranche/mer, France.
authors: Markus G
authors: MG
authors: Weinbauer
authors: Institut de Génétique et Microbiologie, Université Paris-Sud, Orsay, France.
authors: Michael S
authors: MS
authors: DuBow
authors: Department of Limnology and Oceanography, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Department of Biological Oceanography, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Den Burg, The Netherlands.
authors: Gerhard J
authors: GJ
authors: Herndl
mesh_terms: D001267:Atlantic Ocean; D001482:Base Composition; D044822:Biodiversity; D017753:Ecosystem; D016679:Genome, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D008522:Mediterranean Sea; D056186:Metagenomics; D012623:Seawater / Q000382:microbiology*; D014780:Viruses / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics