BATS Diel Virome

A sub-daily marine viral metagenomic time series at the Bermuda Atlantic Time Series site.

Overview

A sub-daily (diel) viral metagenomic time series at the Bermuda Atlantic Time Series (BATS) site, resolving depth- and time-stratified viral population dynamics, host predictions, and auxiliary metabolic gene profiles in an oligotrophic ocean gyre.

Scientific or practical problem

Viral population dynamics in the ocean are typically sampled at daily-to-monthly resolution, which can miss rapid, sub-daily (diel) rhythms driven by light, host physiology, and depth stratification. This project asked whether — and how — viral populations shift across a single day at different depths.

My role

Co-lead, contributing to bioinformatic and statistical analysis: viral operational taxonomic unit (vOTU) profiling, host prediction, and time-series/ecological interpretation.

Dataset or data type

High-frequency (sub-daily) viral metagenomic sampling across multiple depths at the BATS site.

Methods and technologies

• Viral metagenomic assembly and vOTU clustering
• Depth- and time-stratified population analysis
• Host prediction
• Auxiliary metabolic gene (AMG) profiling
• Time-series and diel-rhythmicity statistical analysis

Workflow diagram

flowchart LR
  A[Sub-daily depth-stratified samples] --> B[Viral metagenomic assembly]
  B --> C[vOTU clustering]
  C --> D[Host prediction]
  C --> E[AMG profiling]
  D --> F[Diel / depth pattern analysis]
  E --> F

Major results or outputs

Published findings that viral populations show diel- and depth-structured dynamics at BATS without major shifts at the whole-community level — published in PLOS Biology.

Challenges and decisions

Distinguishing genuine diel/depth signal from sampling noise in a high-frequency time series required careful statistical framing (e.g., separating population-level from community-level shifts).

Publications

Carrillo, A., Hageman, E., Chittick, L., Mackey, A.I., Ndlovu, K.S., Tian, F., Gilbert, N.E., Muratore, D., Vik, D., LeCleir, G.R., Sun, C. et al. (co-authored, incl. R.R. Pavan), 2026. Sub-daily virus sampling at the Bermuda Atlantic Time Series reveals diel and depth-structured population dynamics without community-level shifts. PLOS Biology, 24(3), e3003474. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003474

Code and documentation

Repository link pending.

Collaborators

Multi-institution collaboration led within the Sullivan Lab network; co-authored with A. Carrillo and colleagues.

Current status

Published (2026); related follow-up analyses ongoing.

Limitations or confidentiality note

None — this is published work; details beyond the paper’s scope are omitted for brevity, not confidentiality.