Comparative analysis of gut viromes in four penguin species reveals diverse novel viruses and host-associated differences
Kang Qi, Shuang Zhang, Xiaodong Su, Jiaheng Chen, Shiyin Huang, Yue Chen, Wang Li, Guanying Ni, Jieji Duo, Shixing Yang, Quan Shen, Xiaochun Wang, Yuwei Liu, Ping Wu, Hongfeng Yang, Likai Ji, Xiaolong Wang, Wen Zhang · 2026
Read Comparative analysis of gut viromes in four penguin species reveals diverse novel viruses and host-associated differences by Kang Qi, Shuang Zhang, Xiaodong Su, Jiaheng Chen, Shiyin Huang, Yue Chen, Wang Li, Guanying Ni, Jieji Duo, Shixing Yang, Quan Shen, Xiaochun Wang, Yuwei Liu, Ping Wu, Hongfeng Yang, Likai Ji, Xiaolong Wang, Wen Zhang (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/PMC13410756.txt.
Description
Kang Qi leads a big team cataloging in 2026 the viruses living in the guts of four penguin species kept at a Chinese ocean park. Penguins anchor polar food webs, yet their inner virus communities were barely charted. Samples came from Humboldt, gentoo, Adélie, and emperor penguins.
Virus hunting in droppings found 219 sequences that look like new lineages, most sharing little similarity with any known virus. Each species favored different virus families: one leaned to parvoviruses, another to caliciviruses, and Adélie penguins held the widest mix. Many penguin viruses clustered near viruses of birds and fish, hinting at food or surroundings as sources. The catalog sets a baseline for penguin health watch.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Kang Qi, Shuang Zhang, Xiaodong Su, Jiaheng Chen, Shiyin Huang, Yue Chen, Wang Li, Guanying Ni, Jieji Duo, Shixing Yang, Quan Shen, Xiaochun Wang, Yuwei Liu, Ping Wu, Hongfeng Yang, Likai Ji, Xiaolong Wang, Wen Zhang |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 49419 |
| LICENSE | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |