Characterization of the Gut Virome Reveals the Presence of Norovirus Genogroup IV in the Indigenous Orang Asli from Peninsular Malaysia

Here we provide the viral contigs we assembled and codes used in the manuscript titled "Characterization of the Gut Virome Reveals the Presence of Norovirus Genogroup IV in the Indigenous Orang Asli from Peninsular Malaysia". Summary The gut virome plays an important role in health and microbial ecology, yet Indigenous communities, especially in Southeast Asia, are underrepresented and may provide unique perspectives on viral diversity and evolution. Through metagenomic and metatranscriptomic sequencing of stool samples from Indigenous Orang Asli (OA) and urban Malaysians, we identified 51,179 viral sequences representing 4,470 viral operational taxonomic units (vOTUs). Most bacteriophage vOTUs (96.6%) lacked genus-level classification and more than half (54.9%) were predicted to infectClostridia. Over one-third (37.6%) of vOTUs were specific to the Malaysian dataset compared to published virome databases. Helminth infection among OA cohort was associated with greater bacteriophage diversity, mirroring the higher gut bacterial diversity previously observed in the OA cohort. Diverse RNA viruses, including Norovirus (genogroup IV) and Enterovirus (Echovirus B18), were detected and assembled exclusively in OA, with high seropositivity to the rare Genogroup IV.1 observed in OA villagers. Hence, Indigenous communities with traditional lifestyles are an important source of uncharacterized viral diversity in defining the global human virome.