Viruses from Extreme Environments
Viruses are among the most prevalent entities on our planet, yet we know very little about viral diversity. New bioinformatic methods now enable us to better explore metagenomic data to identify and annotate viral genomes. Over the course of summers 2021 and 2022, I mentored remote-based undergraduate interns who worked on viral discovery projects from metagenomic data. These projects focused on viruses from relatively extreme environments including exploring viral diversity in terrestrial cyanobacteria metagenomes and in Antarctic rock metagenomes.
Related publications:
- Ettinger CL, Saunders M*, Selbmann L, Delgado-Baquerizo M, Donati C, Albanese D, Roux S, Tringe S, Pennacchio C, Stajich JE, & Coleine C. 2023. Highly diverse and unknown viruses may enhance Antarctic endoliths’ adaptability. Microbiome. DOI: 10.1186/s40168-023-01554-6 *undergraduate author
- Ettinger CL, Paul S*, Flores N*, Pietrasiak N, & Stajich JE. Submitted. Exploring Viral Communities Associated with Terrestrial Cyanobacteria Metagenomes. Preprint available on bioRxiv. DOI: 10.1101/2022.12.14.520320 *undergraduate author