Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Meta-virus resource (MetaVR) : expanding the frontiers of viral diversity with 24 million uncultivated virus genomes

Fiamenghi, Mateus B. ; Camargo, Antonio Pedro ; Chasapi, Iro N. ; Baltoumas, Fotis A. ; Roux, Simon ; Egorov, Artyom A. LU orcid ; Aplakidou, Eleni ; Ndela, Eric Olo ; Vasquez, Yumary M. and Chen, I. Min A. , et al. (2026) In Nucleic Acids Research 54(1). p.801-812
Abstract

Viruses are ubiquitous in all environments and impact host metabolism, evolution, and ecology, although our knowledge of their biodiversity is still extremely limited. Viral diversity from genomic and metagenomic datasets has led to an explosion of uncultivated virus genomes (UViGs) and the development of specialized databases to catalog this viral diversity, though many lack comprehensive integration. Here, we introduce meta-virus resource (MetaVR), the successor of the IMG/VR database, designed to overcome previous limitations such as large-scale querying and programmatic access. Drawing on the increase of publicly available genomes and metagenomes, MetaVR significantly expands viral diversity, now comprising 24,435,662 UViGs, a 57.6%... (More)

Viruses are ubiquitous in all environments and impact host metabolism, evolution, and ecology, although our knowledge of their biodiversity is still extremely limited. Viral diversity from genomic and metagenomic datasets has led to an explosion of uncultivated virus genomes (UViGs) and the development of specialized databases to catalog this viral diversity, though many lack comprehensive integration. Here, we introduce meta-virus resource (MetaVR), the successor of the IMG/VR database, designed to overcome previous limitations such as large-scale querying and programmatic access. Drawing on the increase of publicly available genomes and metagenomes, MetaVR significantly expands viral diversity, now comprising 24,435,662 UViGs, a 57.6% increase from its predecessor, organized into over 12 million viral operational taxonomic units. Key enhancements include the integration of curated eukaryotic host information, the integration of protein clusters and predicted structures for comparative studies, and an API for programmatic data access. Furthermore, MetaVR features an updated taxonomic framework based on ICTV release 39, assignment to Baltimore classes, and enhanced host assignment through novel computational tools like iPHoP. These advancements position MetaVR as a unique resource for exploring viral diversity, evolution, and host interactions across diverse environments. MetaVR can be freely accessed at https://www.meta-virome.org/.

(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and , et al. (More)
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and (Less)
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Nucleic Acids Research
volume
54
issue
1
pages
801 - 812
publisher
Oxford University Press
external identifiers
  • scopus:105027743445
  • pmid:41312645
ISSN
0305-1048
DOI
10.1093/nar/gkaf1283
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
88edd23b-f8d6-4886-b06d-1532e385324b
date added to LUP
2026-02-20 11:56:24
date last changed
2026-02-21 03:00:07
@article{88edd23b-f8d6-4886-b06d-1532e385324b,
  abstract     = {{<p>Viruses are ubiquitous in all environments and impact host metabolism, evolution, and ecology, although our knowledge of their biodiversity is still extremely limited. Viral diversity from genomic and metagenomic datasets has led to an explosion of uncultivated virus genomes (UViGs) and the development of specialized databases to catalog this viral diversity, though many lack comprehensive integration. Here, we introduce meta-virus resource (MetaVR), the successor of the IMG/VR database, designed to overcome previous limitations such as large-scale querying and programmatic access. Drawing on the increase of publicly available genomes and metagenomes, MetaVR significantly expands viral diversity, now comprising 24,435,662 UViGs, a 57.6% increase from its predecessor, organized into over 12 million viral operational taxonomic units. Key enhancements include the integration of curated eukaryotic host information, the integration of protein clusters and predicted structures for comparative studies, and an API for programmatic data access. Furthermore, MetaVR features an updated taxonomic framework based on ICTV release 39, assignment to Baltimore classes, and enhanced host assignment through novel computational tools like iPHoP. These advancements position MetaVR as a unique resource for exploring viral diversity, evolution, and host interactions across diverse environments. MetaVR can be freely accessed at https://www.meta-virome.org/.</p>}},
  author       = {{Fiamenghi, Mateus B. and Camargo, Antonio Pedro and Chasapi, Iro N. and Baltoumas, Fotis A. and Roux, Simon and Egorov, Artyom A. and Aplakidou, Eleni and Ndela, Eric Olo and Vasquez, Yumary M. and Chen, I. Min A. and Palaniappan, Krishna and Reddy, T. B.K. and Mukherjee, Supratim and Ivanova, Natalia N. and Schulz, Frederik and Woyke, Tanja and Eloe-Fadrosh, Emiley A. and Pavlopoulos, Georgios A. and Kyrpides, Nikos C.}},
  issn         = {{0305-1048}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{801--812}},
  publisher    = {{Oxford University Press}},
  series       = {{Nucleic Acids Research}},
  title        = {{Meta-virus resource (MetaVR) : expanding the frontiers of viral diversity with 24 million uncultivated virus genomes}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkaf1283}},
  doi          = {{10.1093/nar/gkaf1283}},
  volume       = {{54}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}