Comparison of a Modern and Fossil<i>Pithovirus</i>Reveals Its Genetic Conservation and Evolution

Levasseur, Anthony; Andréani, Julien; Delerce, Jérémy; Khalil, Jacques Bou; Robert, Caroline; Scola, Bernard La; Raoult, Didier

doi:10.1093/gbe/evw153

Cited by 42 publications

(63 citation statements)

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“…We performed a classic co-culture method associated with presumptive identification by flow cytometry [9,10]. Acanthamoeba castellanii strain Neff was used as cell support.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With respect to the production and the purification, briefly, 15 infected flasks of 150 cm 2 (Corning ® , NY, USA) were pelleted using the Beckman coulter ® centrifuge Avanti® J-26 XP (Beckman, France) at 14,000× g for 30 min [9]. A 25% sucrose gradient was used for the final purification step.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These two latter viruses were isolated from 30,000-year-old permafrost, demonstrating a conserved infectious effect for amoebas [7,8]. The recent isolation of another virus, Pithovirus massiliensis , from sewage, offered the opportunity to analyze the evolution between the modern and fossil genomes [9]. Surprisingly, the estimated mutation rate was found to be lower than RNA viruses and some DNA viruses, and these genomes exhibited stability comparable to that of prokaryotic genomes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cedratvirus, a Double-Cork Structured Giant Virus, is a Distant Relative of Pithoviruses

Andréani

Aherfi

Khalil

et al. 2016

Viruses

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118

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Most viruses are known for the ability to cause symptomatic diseases in humans and other animals. The discovery of Acanthamoeba polyphaga mimivirus and other giant amoebal viruses revealed a considerable and previously unknown area of uncharacterized viral particles. Giant viruses have been isolated from various environmental samples collected from very distant geographic places, revealing a ubiquitous distribution. Their morphological and genomic features are fundamental elements for classifying them. Herein, we report the isolation and draft genome of Cedratvirus, a new amoebal giant virus isolated in Acanthamoeba castellanii, from an Algerian environmental sample. The viral particles are ovoid-shaped, resembling Pithovirus sibericum, but differing notably in the presence of two corks at each extremity of the virion. The draft genome of Cedratvirus—589,068 base pairs in length—is a close relative of the two previously described pithoviruses, sharing 104 and 113 genes with P. sibericum and Pithovirus massiliensis genomes, respectively. Interestingly, analysis of these viruses’ core genome reveals that only 21% of Cedratvirus genes are involved in best reciprocal hits with the two pithoviruses. Phylogeny reconstructions and comparative genomics indicate that Cedratvirus is most closely related to pithoviruses, and questions their membership in an enlarged putative Pithoviridae family.

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“…We performed a classic co-culture method associated with presumptive identification by flow cytometry [9,10]. Acanthamoeba castellanii strain Neff was used as cell support.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Cedratvirus, a Double-Cork Structured Giant Virus, is a Distant Relative of Pithoviruses

Andréani

Aherfi

Khalil

et al. 2016

Viruses

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118

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“…Representatives of the Pandoraviridae and Pithoviridae families harbor striking amphora‐shaped morphologies (Scheid et al ., ; Philippe et al ., ; Legendre et al ., ; Levasseur et al ., ) but were shown phylogenetically to be only distantly‐related based on reconstruction from both core protein alignment and their gene content (Legendre et al ., 2014, 2015). On the one hand, Pandoravirus dulcis and Pandoravirus salinus are able to grow in Acanthamoeba castellanii and harbour very large (1µm in length, 0.5 µm in diameter) particles that contain a 1.9–2.5 Mb‐long GC‐rich genomes (Philippe et al ., ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cedratvirus lausannensis – digging into Pithoviridae diversity

Bertelli

Mueller

Thomas

et al. 2017

Environmental Microbiology

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Summary Amoeba‐infecting viruses have raised scientists’ interest due to their novel particle morphologies, their large genome size and their genomic content challenging previously established dogma. We report here the discovery and the characterization of Cedratvirus lausannensis, a novel member of the Megavirales, with a 0.75–1 µm long amphora‐shaped particle closed by two striped plugs. Among numerous host cell types tested, the virus replicates only in Acanthamoeba castellanii leading to host cell lysis within 24 h. C. lausannensis was resistant to ethanol, hydrogen peroxide and heating treatments. Like 30 000‐year‐old Pithovirus sibericum, C. lausannensis enters by phagocytosis, releases its genetic content by fusion of the internal membrane with the inclusion membrane and replicates in intracytoplasmic viral factories. The genome encodes 643 proteins that confirmed the grouping of C. lausannensis with Cedratvirus A11 as phylogenetically distant members of the family Pithoviridae. The 575,161 bp AT‐rich genome is essentially devoid of the numerous repeats harbored by Pithovirus, suggesting that these non‐coding repetitions might be due to a selfish element rather than particular characteristics of the Pithoviridae family. The discovery of C. lausannensis confirms the contemporary worldwide distribution of Pithoviridae members and the characterization of its genome paves the way to better understand their evolution.

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“…A large community of previously unknown viruses is emerging among the former nucleocytoplasmic large DNA viruses (NCLDV). We are witnessing a growing number of new isolates with extraordinary properties in gene content, particle resistance, and/or morphological appearance (3)(4)(5)(6)(7). Genome sequencing and advances in coculture isolation strategies have led to an increase in the discovery of new viruses (8,9).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Pacmanvirus, a New Giant Icosahedral Virus at the Crossroads between Asfarviridae and Faustoviruses

Andréani

Khalil

Sevvana

et al. 2017

J Virol

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African swine fever virus, a double-stranded DNA virus that infects pigs, is the only known member of the Asfarviridae family. Nevertheless, during our isolation and sequencing of the complete genome of faustovirus, followed by the description of kaumoebavirus, carried out over the past 2 years, we observed the emergence of previously unknown related viruses within this group of viruses. Here we describe the isolation of pacmanvirus, a fourth member in this group, which is capable of infecting Acanthamoeba castellanii. Pacmanvirus A23 has a linear compact genome of 395,405 bp, with a 33.62% GϩC content. The pacmanvirus genome harbors 465 genes, with a high coding density. An analysis of reciprocal best hits shows that 31 genes are conserved between African swine fever virus, pacmanvirus, faustovirus, and kaumoebavirus. Moreover, the major capsid protein locus of pacmanvirus appears to be different from those of kaumoebavirus and faustovirus. Overall, comparative and genomic analyses reveal the emergence of a new group or cluster of viruses encompassing African swine fever virus, faustovirus, pacmanvirus, and kaumoebavirus.IMPORTANCE Pacmanvirus is a newly discovered icosahedral double-stranded DNA virus that was isolated from an environmental sample by amoeba coculture. We describe herein its structure and replicative cycle, along with genomic analysis and genomic comparisons with previously known viruses. This virus represents the third virus, after faustovirus and kaumoebavirus, that is most closely related to classical representatives of the Asfarviridae family. These results highlight the emergence of previously unknown double-stranded DNA viruses which delineate and extend the diversity of a group around the asfarvirus members.KEYWORDS giant viruses, pacmanvirus, Asfarviridae, Acanthamoeba castellanii, NCLDV, faustovirus, kaumoebavirus, African swine fever virus T he discovery impacts of "giant viruses," such as Acanthamoeba polyphaga mimivirus (1), pandoraviruses (2), and pithoviruses (3), and their interactions with the world of protists are very common and do not need a long introduction. A large community of previously unknown viruses is emerging among the former nucleocytoplasmic large DNA viruses (NCLDV). We are witnessing a growing number of new isolates with extraordinary properties in gene content, particle resistance, and/or morphological appearance (3-7). Genome sequencing and advances in coculture isolation strategies have led to an increase in the discovery of new viruses (8,9). Some NCLDV are well studied because of their role in infecting algae, in the case of Phycodnaviridae (10), or in swine and wild boar infections, in the case of members of the Asfarviridae (11). The

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Comparison of a Modern and FossilPithovirusReveals Its Genetic Conservation and Evolution

Cited by 42 publications

References 40 publications

Cedratvirus, a Double-Cork Structured Giant Virus, is a Distant Relative of Pithoviruses

Cedratvirus, a Double-Cork Structured Giant Virus, is a Distant Relative of Pithoviruses

Cedratvirus lausannensis – digging into Pithoviridae diversity

Pacmanvirus, a New Giant Icosahedral Virus at the Crossroads between Asfarviridae and Faustoviruses

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