The Groundwater Virome Database (GWVD)

Viruses as the most abundant biological entities have drastic impacts on aquatic ecosystems, yet little was known about groundwater virome. To address this knowledge gap, we performed ultra-deep metagenomic sequencing on groundwater samples from 607 monitoring wells throughout China and established the first groundwater virome database (GWVD). The GWVD database substantially expanded known aquifer virosphere, and the vast majority of the vOTUs represented previously unknown viral populations. The GWVD provided comprehensive available resources for future studies on viruses in subsurface environments