Diverse, abundant and stable coastal RNA viruses identified by spatiotemporal metatranscriptomics

Abstract The diversity and spatiotemporal dynamics of a coastal RNA virus community, was investigated focusing on the effects of a bloom of the macroalgae U. prolifera through a metatranscriptomic reconstruction of ~ 880Gb of Qingdao Coastal RNA sequences from May 2019 to December 2020. 6,079 RNA viral contigs were identified and these generated 2,351 viral operational taxonomic units within known orders. The analysis found that structural components of the coastal marine RNA virus community are diverse, abundant and stable. The viruses were mainly associated with eukaryotes from Intramacronucleata, Chlorophyta, Bacillariophyta and Dinophyceae, bacteria from Flavobacteriales and Rhodobacterales and MGII and Nitrosopumilales from archaea. The viral auxiliary metabolic genes indicate that coastal RNA viruses manipulate reprogramming of diverse host metabolisms, including carbon cycling, signaling pathways, membrane transport, transcription and translation. Together these results provide critical insights for incorporating RNA viruses into marine ecological and epidemiological models.