RNA Virus Discovery from Daphnia meta-transcriptomes: A novel Tombunoda-like virus based on RNA dependent RNA polymerase identification

preprint OA: closed CC-BY-NC-4.0

Abstract

The discovery of RNA viruses from meta-transcriptomes has led to an explosion in viral diversity and identified many novel host-virus associations. To date, no studies have examined the RNA virome of the model zooplankter Daphnia. From which only four viruses are known, with only one being well understood. Here, I assemble and annotate RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) containing contigs from Daphnia meta-transcriptomes. Homology searches and phylogenetic inference show that the RdRp genes are related to another crustacean RNA virus identified as order Tolivirales, family Tombusviridae. A second open reading frame encodes for a protein associated with Nodaviruses, also discovered in crustaceans. Taken together, this suggests that Daphnia pulex virus 1 is part of a growing set of tombunodaviruses, which are commonly found in invertebrate viromes.
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This is a Preprint and has not been peer reviewed. This is version 1 of this Preprint. You must log in to post a comment. There are no comments or no comments have been made public for this article. This is a Preprint and has not been peer reviewed. This is version 1 of this Preprint. Add a Comment You must log in to post a comment. Comments There are no comments or no comments have been made public for this article. The discovery of RNA viruses from meta-transcriptomes has led to an explosion in viral diversity and identified many novel host-virus associations. To date, no studies have examined the RNA virome of the model zooplankter Daphnia. From which only four viruses are known, with only one being well understood. Here, I assemble and annotate RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) containing contigs from Daphnia meta-transcriptomes. Homology searches and phylogenetic inference show that the RdRp genes are related to another crustacean RNA virus identified as order Tolivirales, family Tombusviridae. A second open reading frame encodes for a protein associated with Nodaviruses, also discovered in crustaceans. Taken together, this suggests that Daphnia pulex virus 1 is part of a growing set of tombunodaviruses, which are commonly found in invertebrate viromes. https://doi.org/10.32942/X2DW8B Bioinformatics, Life Sciences, Virology RNA Virus, Daphnia, metatranscriptomes, Tombusviridae, RNA-dependent RNA Polymerase, RdRp Published: 2025-11-21 19:03 CC-BY Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International Conflict of interest statement: None Data and Code Availability Statement: I analyzed the RNA sequencing libraries (SRX14976444-SRX14976451) accessioned underBioProject (PRJNA830892). Viral genome sequences have been submitted to NCBI Genbank and are available under accessions PX577120 and PX577121. Scripts and data are provided on GitHub at: https://github.com/mwersebe/DaphniaRNAvirus. Language: English

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