Expansion of the Asgard archaeal virome and defensome provides insights into virus-host interactions

Abstract

Background: Asgard archaea, broadly considered as a group of archaea that exhibit the closest evolutionary relationship with eukaryotes, encode diverse defense systems and are infected by distinct viruses. However, the diversity of Asgard archaeal viruses and their interactions with the hosts remain poorly explored. Results: Here, using CRISPR spacer-protospacer matching, we predict 23 viruses associated with Asgard archaea from various habitats. Apart from clusters with known viruses, we report three previously undescribed groups of Asgard viruses with predicted head-tailed virions of the realm Duplodnaviria and filamentous virions characteristic of the archaea-specific realm Adnaviria. Mapping of metagenomic reads to viral and host genomes suggested that most Asgard viruses display relatively low virus-to-host ratios, typically below 10. In addition, we considerably expanded the known defensome of Asgard archaea, among others, detecting putative PARIS and Prometheus defense systems. Finally, the diversity of anti-defense proteins and putative archaeal type IV pilins encoded by some Asgard viruses provide additional insights into the interactions between Asgard archaea and their viruses. Conclusions: Overall, this work sheds new light on the Asgard archaeal virome and defensome, and virus-host interactions.

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BibTeX RIS

BibTeX

@article{gu2026expansion,
  title = {{Expansion of the Asgard archaeal virome and defensome provides insights into virus-host interactions}},
  author = {Chengxiang Gu and Rui Zhang and Yang-Zhi Rao and Xinxu Zhang and Zhichao Zhou and Yang Liu and Xiyang Dong and Long Wang and Yinzhao Wang and Zheng-Shuang Hua and Mart Krupovic and Meng Li},
  journal = {Microbiome},
  year = {2026},
  month = jul,
  doi = {10.1186/s40168-026-02481-y},
  url = {https://pasteur.hal.science/pasteur-05839330v1},
  note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}

RIS

TY  - JOUR
TI  - Expansion of the Asgard archaeal virome and defensome provides insights into virus-host interactions
AU  - Chengxiang Gu
AU  - Rui Zhang
AU  - Yang-Zhi Rao
AU  - Xinxu Zhang
AU  - Zhichao Zhou
AU  - Yang Liu
AU  - Xiyang Dong
AU  - Long Wang
AU  - Yinzhao Wang
AU  - Zheng-Shuang Hua
AU  - Mart Krupovic
AU  - Meng Li
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/07/01
JO  - Microbiome
DO  - 10.1186/s40168-026-02481-y
UR  - https://pasteur.hal.science/pasteur-05839330v1
AB  - Background: Asgard archaea, broadly considered as a group of archaea that exhibit the closest evolutionary relationship with eukaryotes, encode diverse defense systems and are infected by distinct viruses. However, the diversity of Asgard archaeal viruses and their interactions with the hosts remain poorly explored. Results: Here, using CRISPR spacer-protospacer matching, we predict 23 viruses associated with Asgard archaea from various habitats. Apart from clusters with known viruses, we report three previously undescribed groups of Asgard viruses with predicted head-tailed virions of the realm Duplodnaviria and filamentous virions characteristic of the archaea-specific realm Adnaviria. Mapping of metagenomic reads to viral and host genomes suggested that most Asgard viruses display relatively low virus-to-host ratios, typically below 10. In addition, we considerably expanded the known defensome of Asgard archaea, among others, detecting putative PARIS and Prometheus defense systems. Finally, the diversity of anti-defense proteins and putative archaeal type IV pilins encoded by some Asgard viruses provide additional insights into the interactions between Asgard archaea and their viruses. Conclusions: Overall, this work sheds new light on the Asgard archaeal virome and defensome, and virus-host interactions.
SN  - 2049-2618
ER  -

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