Microbes drive critical ecosystem functions and affect global nutrient cycling, however they do so under strong constraints exerted by viruses. Research in the viral genomics group aims at improving our collective understanding of ecological and evolutionary parameters driving virus:host dynamics in environmental microbial communities. This involves both experimental and computational exploration of uncultivated viral diversity, characterization of molecular mechanisms involved in virus:host interaction and host cell take-over by viruses, and attempts to evaluate ecosystem-level impacts of viral infections.
Research Team
 |
 |
 |
| Simon Roux, PI, Research Scientist |
Maureen Berg, Project Scientist | Clement Coclet |
| [email protected] | [email protected] | [email protected] |
| Simon’s research interests revolve around viral diversity in the environment and the impacts of virus-host interactions on individual microbes and on ecosystems. His work includes the development of bioinformatics tools for viral datasets, the analysis and meta-analysis of viral genomes assembled from metagenomes, and the design of new approaches to investigate virus-host interactions in nature. | Maureen is currently developing new high-resolution and high-throughput methods to link uncultivated viruses to their host. With these new methods, she hopes to expand our understanding of the roles that viruses play in their ecosystems, particularly in freshwater ecosystems. | Clement is currently working on the analysis of viral diversity and activity from several multi’omics time series. By integrating multiple ‘omics data from uncultivated microbes and viruses, Clement’s work aims at better understanding how viruses influence and shape microbial community processes. |
Selected Publications
- Coclet, C. and Roux, S. (2021) Global overview and major challenges of host prediction methods for uncultivated phages. Current Opinion in Virology. 49, 117-126
- Berg, M. and Roux, S. (2021) Extreme dimensions — how big (or small) can tailed phages be? Nature Reviews Microbiology. 19, 407
- Berg, M. et al. (2021) Host population diversity as a driver of viral infection cycle in wild populations of green sulfur bacteria with long standing virus-host interactions. ISME J. 15, 1569–1584
- Roux, S. et al. (2019) Cryptic inoviruses revealed as pervasive in bacteria and archaea across Earth’s biomes. Nature Microbiology. 4, 1895–1906
- Roux, S. et al. (2019) Minimum Information about an Uncultivated Virus Genome (MIUViG). Nature Biotech. 37, 29–37
- Roux S, et al. (2016) Ecogenomics and potential biogeochemical impacts of globally abundant ocean viruses. Nature. 537:689-93.