Selected abstract: Extensive viral nucleic acid contamination in clinical samples

Selected abstract: Extensive viral nucleic acid contamination in clinical samples

Recent examples of virus discovery using high-throughput sequencing (HTS) have revealed unexpected contamination stemming from laboratory components, sometimes leading to incorrect conclusions about causality between identified viral sequences and disease phenotypes. Sample preparation for HTS includes treatment with various laboratory components, which could potentially carry viral nucleic acids, both of natural and synthetic origin. This highlights the need for a better understanding of laboratory component derived contamination and more careful interpretation of virome data.

Our results demonstrate a high prevalence of contamination in HTS virome data. Moreover, it shows that detection of viral contamination can be problematic due to stochastic appearance, therefore not always being detected in limited non-template control samples. Our results can be used for assessment of viral findings in future virome and metagenomic studies and highlight the importance of multiple suitable controls and verification of potential findings using alternative protocols.