The discovery of giant viruses has revolutionised the knowledge on viruses and transformed the idea of three domains of life. Here, we discuss the known protozoal giant viruses and their potential to infect also humans and animals.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
---|---|
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6746690 | PMC |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11262-019-01684-w | DOI Listing |
bioRxiv
December 2024
DOE Joint Genome Institute, Berkeley, California, USA.
Microbial eukaryotes (aka protists) are known for their important roles in nutrient cycling across different ecosystems. However, the composition and function of protist-associated microbiomes remains largely elusive. Here, we employ cultivation-independent single-cell isolation and genome-resolved metagenomics to provide detailed insights into underexplored microbiomes and viromes of over 100 currently uncultivable ciliates and amoebae isolated from diverse environments.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGenome Biol Evol
January 2025
Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science, Division of Microbial Ecology, University of Vienna, Vienna 1030, Austria.
The need for high-quality protist genomes has prevented in-depth computational and experimental studies of giant virus-host interactions. In addition, our current knowledge of host range is highly biased due to the few hosts used to isolate novel giant viruses. This study presents 6 high-quality amoeba genomes from known and potential giant virus hosts belonging to 2 distinct eukaryotic clades: Amoebozoa and Discoba.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDNA Repair (Amst)
December 2024
Agriculture and Marine Science Program, Graduate School of Integrated Arts and Science, Kochi University, Nankoku, Kochi 783-8502, Japan; Agricultural Science, Graduate School of Integrated Arts and Science, Kochi University, Nankoku, Kochi 783-8502, Japan. Electronic address:
Most giant viruses including Mimiviridae family build large viral factories within the host cytoplasms. These giant viruses are presumed to possess specific genes that enable the rapid and massive replication of their large double-stranded DNA genomes within viral factories. It has been revealed that a functionally uncharacterized protein, MutS7, is expressed during the operational phase of the viral factory.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicrobes Infect
December 2024
Laboratório de Vírus, Departamento de Microbiologia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG). Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, 31270-901, Brazil. Electronic address:
Giant viruses have fascinated the scientific community due to their immense particles and extensive genomes. A significant surge of interest in the field has been observed over the past 20 years following the discovery of mimiviruses, the first amoeba-infecting viruses described. However, with the discovery of new amoeba viruses and those from other protists, the concept of "giant viruses" has become increasingly controversial in the scientific literature.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFmSystems
December 2024
Institute for Chemical Research, Kyoto University, Uji, Japan.
Giant viruses are crucial for marine ecosystem dynamics because they regulate microeukaryotic community structure, accelerate carbon and nutrient cycles, and drive the evolution of their hosts through co-evolutionary processes. Previously reported long-term observations revealed that these viruses display seasonal fluctuations in abundance. However, the underlying genetic mechanisms driving such dynamics of these viruses remain largely unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!