期刊名称：Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal
印刷版ISSN：2001-0370
出版年度：2020
卷号：18
页码：1605-1612
DOI：10.1016/j.csbj.2020.06.019
出版社：Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal
摘要：Dynamic virus-host interactions play a critical role in regulating microbial community structure and function. Yet for decades prior to the genomics era, viruses were largely overlooked in microbial ecology research, as only low-throughput culture-based methods of discovering viruses were available. With the advent of metagenomics, culture-independent techniques have provided exciting opportunities to discover and study new viruses. Here, we review recently developed computational methods for identifying viral sequences, exploring viral diversity in environmental samples, and predicting hosts from metagenomic sequence data. Methods to analyze viruses in silico utilize unconventional approaches to tackle challenges unique to viruses, such as vast diversity, mosaic viral genomes, and the lack of universal marker genes. As the field of viral ecology expands exponentially, computational advances have become increasingly important to gain insight into the role viruses in diverse habitats.
