Oysters from five continents harbour a vast array of previously unknown RNA viruses, including many putative viruses of vertebrates
- 1The University of British Columbia
Abstract
Oysters are vital to global aquaculture and marine ecosystems, yet, their associated RNA viruses remain largely unexplored. Here, we analysed ~1,000 publicly available metatranscriptomic datasets from 13 oyster species across 14 countries and 5 continents to characterize the oyster RNA virome (ORV). We identified 1,515 distinct RNA viruses putatively representing 17 viral orders and 766 species-level viral operational taxonomic units (vOTUs), with ~62% being previously undocumented putative species. These viruses not only populate extant branches of RNA virus evolution, but also represent previously unrecognized families and genera, and include viruses that putatively infect bacteria, fungi, protists, plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates. Based on sequence similarity, we found many calicivirus-like, orthoreovirus-like, astrovirus-like, and picornavirus-like viruses that do not infect invertebrates or microbes; thus, oysters accumulate diverse viruses from the surrounding water, and can potentially be interrogated as reporters of viruses circulating in the environment.
Related
- Sailing to Gondwana: multiple waves of spinosaurid dispersal to the southern continents
- Genetic Diversity and Structure Analysis of Wild Oysters (Crassostrea virginica) Within and Between River Systems Reveals Spatial Genetic Structure and Salinity-Adaptive Variation Across the Canadian Maritimes.
- Reconstruction of the Prox gene family evolution in vertebrates reveals multiple lineage-specific gene losses
- Complexome profiling of mitochondria in the myzozoan parasite of oysters, Perkinsus marinus
- Co-option of retroviral genes: diversity and evolution in vertebrates
BibTeX
@misc{zhong2026oysters,
title = {{Oysters from five continents harbour a vast array of previously unknown RNA viruses, including many putative viruses of vertebrates}},
author = {K. X. Zhong and A. M. Chan and C. A. Suttle},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.29.755536},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.29.755536v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Oysters from five continents harbour a vast array of previously unknown RNA viruses, including many putative viruses of vertebrates
AU - K. X. Zhong
AU - A. M. Chan
AU - C. A. Suttle
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/29
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.29.755536
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.29.755536v1
AB - Oysters are vital to global aquaculture and marine ecosystems, yet, their associated RNA viruses remain largely unexplored. Here, we analysed ~1,000 publicly available metatranscriptomic datasets from 13 oyster species across 14 countries and 5 continents to characterize the oyster RNA virome (ORV). We identified 1,515 distinct RNA viruses putatively representing 17 viral orders and 766 species-level viral operational taxonomic units (vOTUs), with ~62% being previously undocumented putative species. These viruses not only populate extant branches of RNA virus evolution, but also represent previously unrecognized families and genera, and include viruses that putatively infect bacteria, fungi, protists, plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates. Based on sequence similarity, we found many calicivirus-like, orthoreovirus-like, astrovirus-like, and picornavirus-like viruses that do not infect invertebrates or microbes; thus, oysters accumulate diverse viruses from the surrounding water, and can potentially be interrogated as reporters of viruses circulating in the environment.
ER -