The Human Gut Virome Is Highly Diverse, Stable, and Individual Specific
2019
Summary The human gut contains a vast array of viruses, mostly
bacteriophages. The majority remain uncharacterized, and their roles in shaping the gut
microbiomeand in impacting on human health remain poorly understood. We performed longitudinal
metagenomicanalysis of fecal viruses in healthy adults that reveal high temporal stability, individual specificity, and correlation with the bacterial
microbiome. Using a database-independent approach that uses most of the sequencing data, we uncovered the existence of a stable, numerically predominant individual-specific persistent personal virome. Clustering of viral genomes and de novo taxonomic annotation identified several groups of crAss-like and
Microviridae
bacteriophagesas the most stable colonizers of the human gut.
CRISPR-based host prediction highlighted connections between these stable viral communities and highly predominant gut bacterial taxa such as
Bacteroides,
Prevotella, and Faecalibacterium. This study provides insights into the structure of the human gut virome and serves as an important baseline for hypothesis-driven research.
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