Comparative study of viromes from freshwater samples of the Ile-Balkhash region of Kazakhstan captured through metagenomic analysis

Viruses are the most abundant biological entities on Earth and can be found in a variety of environments. A high prevalence of viruses in marine and freshwater systems was initially reported by Spencer in 1955, but the ecological significance of viruses is insufficiently known even until the present day. Viruses are known to play a key role in the biology of freshwater bacteria: controlling the bacterial abundance, composition of species, and acting as intermediaries in the transfer of genes between bacterial populations. In our study a variety of viromes of the Ile-Balkhash water basin were identified. It was found that the composition of viruses of the Ile-Balkhash region is made up not only of a wide variety of autochthonous viruses typical for phytoplankton hydro ecosystems, but also of representatives of allochthonous viruses—such families as Coronaviridae, Reoviridae and Herpesviridae—indicating anthropogenic pollution of the basin. The research designed to investigate the viral abundance, spread, infectious cycle, seasonal dynamics, composition of the viral community, and the influence of viruses on the bacteria, phytoplankton and recycling of nutrients, as well as the impact of environmental factors on the viral ecology in a variety of marine and freshwater systems is very relevant nowadays.