Name: Eun Jung Han

Email: hej814@nate.com

Author: Eunjung Han, Kyungyong Lee, Yunjung Park, Younjung Jung, Tae-Jin Choi

Author affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Pukyong National University, Busan, South Korea Presenting author

Abstract title: Population Analysis of Viruses in the Korean South Sea using Virus DNA Polymerase Gene and Major Capsid Protein Gene

Absstract:

Viruses are the most common biological entities in the marine environment. However, because of difficulties in the culture of host organisms studies on the genetic diversity and isolation of unrevealed viruses are limited. Therefore, several DNA-based technologies for marine viruses have been developed to overcome the limitation. One of these new technologies is metagenomics, which is the culture-independent analysis of the genomes extracted directly from environmental samples. Another approach in marine virus diversity study is analysis of DNA fragment amplified by polymerase chain reaction. In this study, the presence and diversity of marine algal viruses in the surface seawater from the southern coast of Korean Peninsula was analyzed by PCR amplification of algal virus DNA polymerase gene and major capsid proteins gene. In order to obtain large quantities of viruses, virus-sized particles in sufficient seawater were concentrated using ultrafiltration. Samples were collected from 5 locations in southern coast including three sampling from one location. The primer sets produced about 550 bp to 700 bp and 350 bp to 550 bp amplicons for the DNA polymerase gene and major capsid protein gene, respectively. Among 332 and 366 clones of DNA polymerase gene and major capsid protein gene fragments, 147(44%) and 326(89%) clones showed significantly similarity to previously reported viral DNA polymerase gene and major capsid protein gene, respectively. These clones were separated into 23 and 41 groups. In both of the DNA polymerase gene and major capsid protein gene clones, the most significant hits were observed with the corresponding gene of the Phycodnaviridae. Analysis of diversity and abundance of each sequences for each sample showed dynamic changes of virus population in seawater of southern coast.