Metagenomics and the Human Virome in Asymptomatic Individuals

Abstract

High-throughput sequencing technologies have revolutionized how we think about viruses. Investigators can now go beyond pathogenic viruses and have access to the thousands of viruses that inhabit our bodies without causing clinical symptoms. By studying their interactions with each other, with other microbes, and with host genetics and immune systems, we can learn how they affect health and disease. This article reviews current knowledge of the composition and diversity of the human virome in physiologically healthy individuals. It focuses on recent results from metagenomics studies and discusses the contribution of bacteriophages and eukaryotic viruses to human health.

Keywords: bacteriophages; eukaryotic viruses; human virome; metagenomics.