Identification of hidden N4-like viruses and their interactions with hosts

ABSTRACT The N4-like viruses, which were recently assigned to the novel viral family Schitoviridae in 2021, belong to a podoviral-like viral lineage and possess conserved genomic characteristics and a unique replication mechanism. Despite their significance, our understanding of N4-like viruses is primarily based on viral isolates. To address this knowledge gap, this study has established a comprehensive N4-like viral data sets comprising 342 high-quality N4-like viruses/proviruses (144 viral isolates, 158 uncultured viruses, and 40 integrated N4-like proviruses). These viruses were classified into 97 subfamilies (89 of which are newly identified), 148 genera (100 of which are newly identified), and 253 species (177 of which are newly identified). The study reveals that N4-like viruses inhibit the polar region, oligotrophic open oceans, and the human gut, where they infect various bacterial lineages, such as Alpha/Beta/Gamma/Epsilon-proteobacteria in the Proteobacteria phylum. Although N4-like viral endogenization appears to be prevalent in Proteobacteria, it has also been observed in Firmicutes. Additionally, the phylogenetic analysis has identified evolutionary divergence within the hallmark genes of N4-like viruses, indicating a complex origin of the different conserved parts of viral genomes. Moreover, 1,101 putative auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs) were identified in the N4-like viral pan-proteome, which mainly participate in nucleotide and cofactor/vitamin metabolisms. Of these AMGs, 27 were found to be associated with virulence, suggesting their potential involvement in the spread of bacterial pathogenicity. Importance The findings of this study are significant, as N4-like viruses represent a unique viral lineage with a distinct replication mechanism and a conserved core genome. This work has resulted in a comprehensive global map of the entire N4-like viral lineage, including information on their distribution in different biomes, evolutionary divergence, genomic diversity, and the potential for viral-mediated host metabolic reprogramming. As such, this work significantly contributes to our understanding of the ecological function and viral-host interactions of bacteriophages.