Giant Virus Biology and Biodiversity

A special issue of Diversity (ISSN 1424-2818). This special issue belongs to the section "Microbial Diversity and Culture Collections".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2020) | Viewed by 3777

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Tokyo University of Science, Tokyo, Japan
Interests: giant virus biology; mimivirus; marseillevirus; medusavirus; local diversity; giant virus–eukaryotic ecosystems; viral eukaryogenesis; DNA polymerase

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Since the discovery of Acanthamoeba polyphaga mimivirus in 2003, a hidden world of “giant viruses” or double-stranded DNA-containing nucleocytoplasmic large DNA viruses (NCLDV) that infect eukaryotic microorganisms has been revealed. Their large genomes and particle sizes, together with complex biological features, have launched debates regarding the definitions of the terms “virus” and “life” and regarding the evolution of eukaryotes. Although the epoch-making biology of individual giant viruses, including mimiviruses, marseilleviruses, and pandoraviruses, has been well studied, their diversity and their roles in ecosystems have yet to be thoroughly explored. Recent genomic analyses of isolated viruses and giant virus metagenomic studies have begun to clarify the biodiversity of giant viruses, revealing both global and local diversity among giant viruses, such as mimiviruses and marseilleviruses, in aquatic and terrestrial soil environments. This Special Issue provides new findings concerning the biodiversity of giant viruses from a wide range of viewpoints, including genomic to ecological perspectives, to enable significant advances in our knowledge and understanding of giant virus biology.

Prof. Dr. Masaharu Takemura
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • Genetic diversity of giant viruses
  • Species diversity of giant viruses
  • Host diversity of giant viruses
  • Viral ecology
  • Taxonomy
  • Evolution
  • Host–virus interactions
  • Terrestrial distribution
  • Ocean and soil metagenomics

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

10 pages, 7364 KiB  
Article
Diversity of Amoeba-Associated Giant Viruses Isolated in Algeria
by Hadjer Boudjemaa, Julien Andreani, Idir Bitam and Bernard La Scola
Diversity 2020, 12(6), 215; https://doi.org/10.3390/d12060215 - 29 May 2020
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3403
Abstract
The discovery of several giant amoeba viruses has opened up a novel area in the field of virology. Despite this, knowledge about ecology of these viruses remains patchy. In this study, we aimed to characterize the diversity of giant viruses in Algeria by [...] Read more.
The discovery of several giant amoeba viruses has opened up a novel area in the field of virology. Despite this, knowledge about ecology of these viruses remains patchy. In this study, we aimed to characterize the diversity of giant viruses in Algeria by inoculating 64 environmental samples on various amoeba strains. After isolation by co-culture with nine amoeba supports, flow cytometry and electron microscopy were used to putatively identify viruses. Definitive identification was performed by PCR and sequencing. Mimiviruses, marseilleviruses, faustoviruses and cedratviruses were the main viruses isolated in this study. Moreover, a new virus, which we named fadolivirus, was also isolated and was found to belong to the recent metagenomic descriptions of Klosneuvirinae. Despite the use of 9 amoeba supports for co-culture, most of the isolates were obtained from two amoebas: Acanthamoeba castellanii Neff and Vermamoeba vermiformis CDC 19. Finally, the viruses most frequently isolated were marseilleviruses (55.5%) and Mimiviruses (22.2%). This work shows that the isolation of viruses previously detected by metagenomic analyses can be tedious, but possible. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Giant Virus Biology and Biodiversity)
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