Marine archaea and archaeal viruses under global change

Danovaro, Roberto; Rastelli, Eugenio; Corinaldesi, Cinzia; Tangherlini, Michael; Dell’Anno, Antonio

doi:10.12688/f1000research.11404.1

Cited by 17 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 88 publications

(124 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Furthermore, it has been estimated that virus-mediated turnover of archaea in surface deep-sea sediments accounts for up to one-third of the total microbial biomass killed, resulting in the release of ~0.3 to 0.5 gigatons of carbon per year globally (Danovaro et al, 2016). These recent findings greatly expand our appreciation of the diversity of archaeal viruses and illuminate their prominent role in the Biosphere (Danovaro et al, 2017).…”

Section: Archaea and Their Virusesmentioning

confidence: 66%

Viruses of archaea: Structural, functional, environmental and evolutionary genomics

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Viruses of archaea represent one of the most enigmatic parts of the virosphere. Most of the characterized archaeal viruses infect extremophilic hosts and display remarkable diversity of virion morphotypes, many of which have never been observed among viruses of bacteria or eukaryotes. The uniqueness of the virion morphologies is matched by the distinctiveness of the genomes of these viruses, with ∼75% of genes encoding unique proteins, refractory to functional annotation based on sequence analyses. In this review, we summarize the state-of-the-art knowledge on various aspects of archaeal virus genomics. First, we outline how structural and functional genomics efforts provided valuable insights into the functions of viral proteins and revealed intricate details of the archaeal virus-host interactions. We then highlight recent metagenomics studies, which provided a glimpse at the diversity of uncultivated viruses associated with the ubiquitous archaea in the oceans, including Thaumarchaeota, Marine Group II Euryarchaeota, and others. These findings, combined with the recent discovery that archaeal viruses mediate a rapid turnover of thaumarchaea in the deep sea ecosystems, illuminate the prominent role of these viruses in the biosphere. Finally, we discuss the origins and evolution of archaeal viruses and emphasize the evolutionary relationships between viruses and non-viral mobile genetic elements. Further exploration of the archaeal virus diversity as well as functional studies on diverse virus-host systems are bound to uncover novel, unexpected facets of the archaeal virome.

show abstract

Section: Archaea and Their Virusesmentioning

confidence: 66%

Viruses of archaea: Structural, functional, environmental and evolutionary genomics

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…It has been demonstrated that virus‐mediated turnover of thaumarchaea in surface deep‐sea sediments accounts for up to one‐third of the total microbial biomass killed, resulting in the release of approximately 0.3–0.5 gigatons of carbon per year globally and that turnover of thaumarchaea by viruses in the deep ocean is faster than that of bacteria (Danovaro et al ., ). These findings illuminate the prominent role of thaumarchaeal viruses in the Biosphere (Danovaro et al ., ). Despite the importance of thaumarchaea and their viruses in the global nitrogen and carbon cycling (Offre et al ., ), only two proviruses (Krupovic et al ., ; Abby et al ., ) and three casposons (Krupovic et al ., ; Krupovic et al ., ) have been identified in the thaumarchaeal genomes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Integrated mobile genetic elements in Thaumarchaeota

Krupovìč

Makarova

Wolf

et al. 2019

Environmental Microbiology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Summary To explore the diversity of mobile genetic elements (MGE) associated with archaea of the phylum Thaumarchaeota, we exploited the property of most MGE to integrate into the genomes of their hosts. Integrated MGE (iMGE) were identified in 20 thaumarchaeal genomes amounting to 2 Mbp of mobile thaumarchaeal DNA. These iMGE group into five major classes: (i) proviruses, (ii) casposons, (iii) insertion sequence‐like transposons, (iv) integrative‐conjugative elements and (v) cryptic integrated elements. The majority of the iMGE belong to the latter category and might represent novel families of viruses or plasmids. The identified proviruses are related to tailed viruses of the order Caudovirales and to tailless icosahedral viruses with the double jelly‐roll capsid proteins. The thaumarchaeal iMGE are all connected within a gene sharing network, highlighting pervasive gene exchange between MGE occupying the same ecological niche. The thaumarchaeal mobilome carries multiple auxiliary metabolic genes, including multicopper oxidases and ammonia monooxygenase subunit C (AmoC), and stress response genes, such as those for universal stress response proteins (UspA). Thus, iMGE might make important contributions to the fitness and adaptation of their hosts. We identified several iMGE carrying type I‐B CRISPR‐Cas systems and spacers matching other thaumarchaeal iMGE, suggesting antagonistic interactions between coexisting MGE and symbiotic relationships with the ir archaeal hosts.

show abstract

“…In contrast, little is known about their viral co-symbionts and their ecological roles across niches within harsh life conditions around the world [ 9 ]. Furthermore, numerous ecological studies have revealed that prokaryotic viruses predominate across different environments, including extreme niches, and outnumbering their hosts by at least an order of magnitude [ 10 , 11 ]. Thus, documenting viral diversity in extremophile hosts, from molecular and taxonomic perspectives, provides vital information about how viruses shaped life on earth and about the viral molecular mechanisms involved in this process, which could constitute a source of novel molecular tools for biotechnological applications.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Viruses in Extreme Environments, Current Overview, and Biotechnological Potential

Gil¹,

Mesa²,

Estrada‐Ortiz³

et al. 2021

Viruses

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Virus research has advanced significantly since the discovery of the tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), the characterization of its infection mechanisms and the factors that determine their pathogenicity. However, most viral research has focused on pathogenic viruses to humans, animals and plants, which represent only a small fraction in the virosphere. As a result, the role of most viral genes, and the mechanisms of coevolution between mutualistic viruses, their host and their environment, beyond pathogenicity, remain poorly understood. This review focuses on general aspects of viruses that interact with extremophile organisms, characteristics and examples of mechanisms of adaptation. Finally, this review provides an overview on how knowledge of extremophile viruses sheds light on the application of new tools of relevant use in modern molecular biology, discussing their value in a biotechnological context.

show abstract

Marine archaea and archaeal viruses under global change

Cited by 17 publications

References 88 publications

Viruses of archaea: Structural, functional, environmental and evolutionary genomics

Viruses of archaea: Structural, functional, environmental and evolutionary genomics

Integrated mobile genetic elements in Thaumarchaeota

Viruses in Extreme Environments, Current Overview, and Biotechnological Potential

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About