title: Biodiversity and distribution of polar freshwater DNA viruses.
abstract: Viruses constitute the most abundant biological entities and a large reservoir of genetic diversity on Earth. Despite the recent surge in their study, our knowledge on their actual biodiversity and distribution remains sparse. We report the first metagenomic analysis of Arctic freshwater viral DNA communities and a comparative analysis with other freshwater environments. Arctic viromes are dominated by unknown and single-stranded DNA viruses with no close relatives in the database. These unique viral DNA communities mostly relate to each other and present some minor genetic overlap with other environments studied, including an Arctic Ocean virome. Despite common environmental conditions in polar ecosystems, the Arctic and Antarctic DNA viromes differ at the fine-grain genetic level while sharing a similar taxonomic composition. The study uncovers some viral lineages with a bipolar distribution, suggesting a global dispersal capacity for viruses, and seemingly indicates that viruses do not follow the latitudinal diversity gradient known for macroorganisms. Our study sheds light into the global biogeography and connectivity of viral communities.
authors.affiliation: Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas-Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid 28049, Spain.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Aguirre de Cárcer
authors.affiliation: Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas-Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid 28049, Spain.
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: López-Bueno
authors.affiliation: British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, Cambridge CB3 0ET, UK. ; Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, University of Northumbria, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ST, UK. ; University Centre in Svalbard, Longyearbyen N-9171, Norway.
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Pearce
authors.affiliation: Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas-Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid 28049, Spain.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alcamí
keywords: Arctic; Virus; biodiversity; environmental microbiology; freshwater lake; metagenomics