We are interested in phages — viruses that infect bacteria. For years the Edwards’ lab has been looking at new, undiscovered phages.

Recently, we identified the crAssphage, a new type of virus that has never been seen before. By looking at the sequences in metagenomes we were able to identify a set of contigs that were common among many different metagenomes. When we assembled them, they looked like a phage. We could compare them to other known phages in our database of sequences.

Working with folks in the biology department we proved that this is a circular virus by using PCR. However, we have so far been unable to culture the virus in vivo. We’re working on it, and hopefully others are too, but until that point we don’t have an image of the virus or an idea of what it does.