NSF/MCB-BSF: Developing a metavirome assembler for uncovering the global virome

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While viruses are the most diverse biological entities on Earth, challenges in their genome sequencing have prevented surveys of Earth's virome. The key obstacle on the way towards exploration of viral diversity is the absence of computational methods of assembling virus genomes from the short overlapping sequences of DNA obtained when sequencing DNA from a wide range of environments. This project will develop such methods to enable a more complete cataloging of virus genomes and provide a critical new resource for microbiology. In addition, it will result in a new online learning classes at UCSD and Tel Aviv University as well as an online capstone project aimed at analyzing viral genomes. This activity will extend the online Coursera Specializations 'Bioinformatics' and the Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) "Gut Check: Exploring Your Microbiome" by including a new metagenomics component. This educational effort will reach thousands of students from all over the world since these MOOCs have large enrollments.This project will result in new genome assemblers specifically aimed at reconstructing the viral component of metagenomes. It will enable the development of a new metavirome assembler aimed at discovery of complete viral genomes across a wide range of environments. This research will result in reassembling all publicly available metagenomics datasets to compile the global catalog of complete viral genomes, which will enable the exploration of viral diversity.This collaborative US/Israel project is supported by the Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences, Biological Sciences Directorate and the Computational Biology activity in the Computer and Information Sciences and Engineering Directorate at the US National Science Foundation and by the Israeli Binational Science Foundation.