Giant virus vs amoeba: fight for supremacy
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Giant virus vs amoeba: fight for supremacy Graziele Oliveira1,2, Bernard La Scola2,3 and Jônatas Abrahão1*
Abstract Since the discovery of mimivirus, numerous giant viruses associated with free-living amoebae have been described. The genome of giant viruses can be more than 2.5 megabases, and virus particles can exceed the size of many bacteria. The unexpected characteristics of these viruses have made them intriguing research targets and, as a result, studies focusing on their interactions with their amoeba host have gained increased attention. Studies have shown that giant viruses can establish host–pathogen interactions, which have not been previously demonstrated, including the unprecedented interaction with a new group of small viruses, called virophages, that parasitize their viral factories. In this brief review, we present recent advances in virophage–giant virus–host interactions and highlight selected studies involving interactions between giant viruses and amoebae. These unprecedented interactions involve the giant viruses mimivirus, marseillevirus, tupanviruses and faustovirus, all of which modulate the amoeba environment, affecting both their replication and their spread to new hosts. Keywords: Giant virus–host interactions, Marseillevirus, Giant vesicles, Mimivirus, Cheshire cat, Tupanvirus dissemination, Faustovirus mariensis, Antiviral mechanism, Virophage
Background In 2003, virologists were surprised by the discovery of the first giant virus of amoeba, which researchers named mimivirus [1]. The discovery of mimivirus has shed light on new approaches for virus isolation and has led to an increase in the number of giant virus isolates [2–14]. Years later, small viruses infecting the viral factories (VFs) of giant viruses were discovered. These viruses were named virophages and they revealed new dimensions of the interactions existing among giant viruses [15]. Some of the main hosts associated with the giant viruses described are the amoebas of the genus Acanthamoeba. These amoebas, besides being associated with human diseases, play a relevant role in ecosystems, acting both as predators and hosts for microorganisms [16–21]. In addition to the acanthamoebas, Vermamoeba vermiformis, another species of free-living amoeba, has been described as one of the hosts of giant viruses, such as tupanvirus, faustovirus and kaumoebavirus [8, 11, 14, 22]. These protozoans obtain their nutrients through phagocytosis. This process is one of the ways in which many giant viruses, such as mimivirus, initiate their replication * Correspondence: [email protected] 1 Laboratório de Vírus, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Departamento de Microbiologia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG 31270-901, Brazil Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
cycles [23–25]. Characterization of giant viruses has revealed unimaginable genomic complexity, including the existence of hundreds of genes associated with activities that have never before been att
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