Comparison of Viral Diversity in Arctic and Tropical Ocean Using Metagenome Analysis

Abstract

Viruses are the most abundant and genetically diverse organisms in the ocean. In addition, it plays an important role in the global biogeochemical process by regulating microbial mortality and microbial community structure variation. To compare the geographical diversity of these viruses, surface waters from the Arctic and Tropical Ocean were collected. Viruses were concentrated using iron chloride flocculation method, and then metagenome analysis was conducted. The results demonstrated that the phages infecting bacteria were predominant in the Tropical Ocean. Contrastively, Viruses infecting eukaryotes were abundant in the Arctic Ocean. The Arctic Ocean has low nutrients and temperatures, but Tropical Ocean has high temperature and nutrient conditions. These conditions of the Tropical Ocean induced the large number of bacteria, indicating abundance of phage. In particular, Several viruses were identified in the Arctic Ocean, including Phycodnaviruses, Poxviruses and Herpesviruses. This study provided the characteristics of viral diversity structure in Arctic and Tropical Ocean. It is necessary to investigate an insight into a virus community structures, including the interaction with ecology, microorganism and human.