The medicinal beetle Blaps rynchopetera is recognized for its antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and immune-regulating properties. This study utilized metaviromics technology to systematically characterize the viral community within the gut of B. rynchopetera through high-throughput sequencing of gut contents, with a specific focus on the composition of its bacteriophage community. The sequencing generated 15,394 contigs exceeding 200 bp, which were assembled into 577 viral operational taxonomic units. Among these, dsDNA viruses constituted 52.33%, ssDNA viruses 11.09%, and Nucleo-Cytoplasmic Large DNA Viruses 11.78%, with 24.80% remaining unknown. Bacteriophages were the predominant viral community members, comprising 65.86% of the total, mainly distributed among five families: Peduoviridae, Schitoviridae, Drexlerviridae, Autographiviridae, and Casjensviridae, with 40.21% of the bacteriophages belonging to unclassified genera. Deep genomic assembly yielded 34 complete bacteriophage sequences, including nine sequences lacking significant similarity to existing viral genomes in BLAST analysis. The remaining sequences were classified as follows: four in Stephanstirmvirinae, three in Schitoviridae, three in Peduoviridae, one in Autographiviridae, one in Guernseyvirinae, one in Herelleviridae, one in Gordonclarkvirinae, one in Chaseviridae, and one in Salmondvirus, while nine bacteriophages remained unclassified. The results indicate that the gut bacteriophage community of B. rynchopetera is diverse and species-rich, exhibiting distinct characteristics compared to bacteriophage communities from honey bees and mosquitoes. These findings lay a foundation for further investigation into virus-microbiota interactions and virus-host relationships within the gut of B. rynchopetera.
Keywords: Bacteriophages; Blaps rynchopetera; Metaviromics; Phylogenetic analysis; Viruses.
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