Glacial foreland huge phage database (GFHPD)

Jumbo-phages (genome size ≥ 200kb) have been detected in diverse habitats worldwide, infecting a variety of prokaryotes. Yet, our understanding of their evolution and adaptation strategy in soil is limited due to the scarcity of soil-derived genomes. Here we conducted a size-fractioned (< 0.22μm) metagenomic survey across a 130-year chronosequence of a glacier foreland in the Tibetan plateau and discovered 1,272 novel jumbo pOTUs (phage operational taxonomic units), including a genome of 667.5 kb, shows that this expansion corresponds to a 60-fold increase of the known soil jumbo-phage diversity.