CrAss like phages from six Korean fecal samples

CrAssphage has been recognized as the most abundant and human-specific bacteriophage in the human gut. Consequently, crAssphage has been used as a microbial source tracking (MST) marker to monitor human fecal contamination. Many crAss-like phages have been recently discovered, expanding the classification into the new order Crassvirales. This study aims to assess crAss-like phage prevalence in South Korea and develop a detection system for MST applications. Thirteen crAss-like phages were identified in six human fecal samples, and categorizeding into seven groups via metagenomic analysis.