Dimensions: Shedding Light on Viral Dark Matter - Genetic, Taxonomic, and Functional Diversity of Coral Reef Viromes

病毒是地球上最丰富、最多样、最不为人所知的生物实体。地球上最常见的有机体很可能是一种目前尚不为科学所知的病毒。由于病毒在宿主细胞内繁殖，它们可以对宿主的福祉产生巨大影响，并拥有宿主执行重要生物功能(如海洋环境中的光合作用)所不可或缺的基因。这一研究项目的一个主要目标是开发新的、高通量的方法，以快速揭示和表征这种生物“暗物质”的多样性。首先，全球病毒基因库的规模将通过分析来自世界主要生物群的病毒DNA来确定。然后，这项工作将通过检查最丰富的病毒蛋白并利用遗传学和蛋白质结构确定它们的功能来专注于珊瑚礁病毒。这些方法结合在一起，将解决病毒生物多样性的遗传、功能和分类方面的问题。来自病毒研究的发现一直处于生物学研究的许多突破的前沿。这项具体工作给社会带来的价值将包括更全面地了解全球病毒生物多样性和病毒在珊瑚礁健康中的作用，以及由于气候变化和其他人类活动而承受相当大压力的宝贵生态系统。预计这项研究将从根本上改变我们对病毒与地球生物多样性相互作用的理解。

Viruses are the most abundant, most diverse, and least understood biological entities on Earth. It is very likely that the most common organism on the planet is a virus that is currently unknown to science. Because viruses reproduce within a host cell they can have enormous impacts on the well being of the host and possess genes that are integral to the host's ability to carry out important biological functions, such as photosynthesis in marine environments. A major goal of this research project is to develop novel, high-throughput methods to rapidly reveal and characterize the diversity of this biological 'dark matter'. First, the size of the global viral gene pool will be determined by analyzing viral DNAs from the world's major biomes. The work will then focus on the viruses of coral reefs by examining the most abundant viral proteins and determining their functions using genetics and protein structures. Combined and integrated, these approaches will address the genetic, functional, and taxonomic dimensions of viral biodiversity.Discoveries stemming from the study of viruses have been at the forefront of many breakthroughs in biological research. Values to society from this specific work will include more comprehensive knowledge of global viral biodiversity and of the role of viruses in the health of coral reefs, valuable ecosystems that are under considerable stress due to climate change and other human activities. It is expected that this research will fundamentally alter our understanding of the interactions of viruses and the biodiversity of the planet.