ArthroVerse: mapping protein family diversity across arthropod-associated microbiomes
Metagenomic studies of arthropod-associated microbiomes have generated vast amounts of sequence data, yet the functional and structural organization of these proteins remains largely unexplored. Here, we present ArthroVerse, the first comprehensive database of protein families derived from arthropod-associated metagenomes. Non-redundant protein families were generated after rigorous filtering, deduplication, and clustering. The protein families were further annotated with microbial taxonomy, host associations, protein structural information, and carbohydrate-active enzymes predictions. The resulting dataset integrates both metagenomic and reference genome-derived proteins, enabling systematic exploration of functional diversity, evolutionary relationships, and host-microbe interactions in insect microbiomes. ArthroVerse provides a valuable resource for the study of microbial ecology and arthropod physiology, offering unprecedented insight into the protein landscape of insect-associated microbial communities. ArthroVerse is publicly accessible at https://envofams.org/arthroverse/.
Authors
- Dimitrios J. Stravopodis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9535-2134)
- Eleni Aplakidou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-0737-4817)
- Solenn Patalano (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1880-7692)
- Fotis A. Baltoumas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2870-2931)
- Evangelos Karatzas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9132-8981)
- Ilias Georgakopoulos‐Soares (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3641-1488)
- Ioannis Iliopoulos (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9079-0565)
- Ioannis Z. Emiris (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2339-5303)
- Georgios A. Pavlopoulos (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4577-8276)
- Αλέξανδρος Γαλάρας (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8167-9331)
- Maria N Chasapi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-0336-0515)
- Iro N Chasapi
- Efthimia Lamari
- Nikos Kyrpides (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6131-0462)
- Sophia Diplari
Institutions
- European Bioinformatics Institute (GB)
- University of Crete (GR)
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (US)
- Joint Genome Institute (US)
- National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (GR)
- Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (AE)
- Athena Research and Innovation Center In Information Communication & Knowledge Technologies (GR)
- Alexander Fleming Biomedical Sciences Research Center (GR)
- The University of Texas at Austin (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nucleic Acids Research
- Published
- 2026-10-27
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkag1067
- Primary Topic
- Insect symbiosis and bacterial influences
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Hellenic Academic Libraries Link
- Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation