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Poster /Oral  Presentation
Metaviromics of hot desert soil biotopes
Evelein Adriennssens1, Enrico Rubigotti1, Marla Tuffin2, Ed Rybicki3 and Don Cowan1
1
Centre for Microbial Ecology and Genomics, University of Pretoria
Institute form Microbial Biotechnology and Metagenomics, University of the Western Cape
3
Virus Research Unit, University of Cape Town
2
A metaviromic survey of hypolithic microbial communities (cyanobacteria-dominated communities
found on the dorsal surfaces of translucent quartz rocks) in the Namib desert was performed.
Metaviromic DNA extracts, generated by treating desert soil suspensions with 1m, o.22u and
ultracentrifugation in order to recover virus-like particles, were sequenced using Roche GS Junior
454 technology. Sequencing yielded 5.4x106 44bp reads, which were assembled into 2950 contigs.
Phylogenetic analysis of contigs showed a high frequency of unclassifiable bacteriophage phylotypes
(>75%). Where phylogenetic affinities were assigned, phage diversity was dominated by
Siphoviridae and Podaviridae.
References
Stomeo, F, Valverde, A, Pointing, SB, McKay, CP, Warren-Rhodes, KA, Tuffin, IM, Seely, M, Cowan, DA
(2013) Hypolithic and soil microbial community assembly along an aridity gradient in the Namib
Desert. Extremophiles, 17: 329-337.
Makhalanyane, TP, Valverde, A, Lacap, D, Pointing, SB, Tuffin, IM, Cowan, DA (2013) Evidence of
species recruitment and development of hot desert hypolithic communities. Environ. Microb. Rep. 5:
219 - 224.