Viral Metagenomes of Antarctic Birds and Mammals. Viral Metagenomes of Antarctic Birds and Mammals

The viral metagenome of Antarctic birds and mammals were profiled to unravel the viral ecology existing in the Antarctic fauna. Oral and fecal Viral metagenomes of Antarctic Adelie Penguins were purified and sequenced from the pools of oral swabs and fecal droppings respectively, collected from the Rookery at Svenner Islands, Antarctica. The fecal Viral metagenomes of South Polar Skua and Weddell Seal were sequenced from pools of fecal droppings of the respective species , collected around the Indian station, Bharati in Antarctica. Both DNA and RNA viral metagenomes were sequenced from the total nucleic acid extracted from the virome pellet obtained by ultracentrifugation of 0.45µm filtrates of each sample pool. NGS was carried out on HiSeq 4000 to generate 2x150bp PE data and analysed further to identify viral genomes.