viral-ecology

1 article

Limited effect of short- to mid-term storage conditions on an Australian farmland soil RNA virome.

PubMed · 2026-02-17

Researchers discovered that soil samples can be stored at standard freezer temperatures for weeks to months without degrading the RNA needed to detect viruses, enabling the identification of 1,475 previously unknown RNA viruses in Australian farmland soil.

Soil samples stored at 2–8°C or -30°C remained stable for at least 2 weeks with no measurable loss in RNA quality or viral diversity.

Samples stored at -80°C maintained integrity for at least 3 months, while no commercial preservative solution proved effective.

Analysis of 32 sequencing libraries identified 1,475 putative novel RNA viruses, the majority belonging to microbe-associated viral lineages.

viral-ecology

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