Unveiling viral diversity through wholevirome sequencing

Abstract

In the dynamic landscape of viral metagenomics, our research focuses on whole-virome sequencing using the Novel enrichment technique of viromes protocol (NetoVir protocol, 1), which we have adapted to diverse starting materials. The NetoVir protocol is a robust and fast approach for efficiently identifying DNA and RNA viruses without structural or genome preferences, ranging from small Picornaviridae to large viruses of the Mimiviridae family. The individual steps of the protocol allow for the enrichment of capsid-protected viruses, and through random nucleic acid amplification, sufficient reads can be obtained for subsequent bioinformatic analysis. Using a comprehensive bioinformatics, we can obtain information on a wide range of viruses without limiting our investigation to specific virus groups. This allows us to gain insight not only into known but also into unknown viruses.