A fantastical world of potential giant viruses lurks beneath the soil

"These and other peculiar-looking shapes “clearly tell us that we’ve underestimated how structurally diverse these viruses are,”"

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/potential-giant-viruses-soil-microbiology

#viruses #giantViruses

New #ISEPpapers! A Novel Group of #Dynamin-Related #Proteins Shared by #Eukaryotes and #GiantViruses Is Able to Remodel #Mitochondria From Within the Matrix https://academic.oup.com/mbe/article/40/6/msad134/7190697 #protists #viruses #evolution

Phylogenetic diversity and functional potential of large and cell-associated viruses in the Bay of Bengal

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.07.17.548743v1

#viruses #ecology #marine #ocean #giantViruses

Amazing structural diversity of giant virus-like particles in forest soil

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.06.30.546935v1

#viruses #giantViruses #microbiology

Happy to share a collaborative preprint with Assaf Vardi's group in which we use single cell transcriptomics to link giant viruses with their native hosts during a marine algal bloom!

This approach is quite sensitive - we were able to identify viruses infecting one protist group that made up <0.5% of the community.

Homing in on the rare virosphere reveals the native host of giant viruses

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.06.27.546645v1

#viruses #giantViruses #ocean #marine

It's been a big mystery why giant viruses encode so many proteins involved in vesicular transport and cytoskeletal dynamics. This interesting paper examined a dynamin homolog and found evidence that it's involved in mitochondrial membrane remodelling during infection.

A Novel Group of Dynamin-Related Proteins Shared by Eukaryotes and Giant Viruses Is Able to Remodel Mitochondria From Within the Matrix

https://academic.oup.com/mbe/article/40/6/msad134/7190697?login=false

#viruses #GiantViruses #virology

Our latest work on marine giant virus diversity -

Assessing the biogeography of marine giant viruses in four oceanic transects

https://www.nature.com/articles/s43705-023-00252-6

#viruses #marine #ocean #giantviruses

Link between herpesviruses and giant viruses no longer missing - Enlarge / Electron micrograph of herpesviruses. (credit: Callista Image... - https://arstechnica.com/?p=1934235 #giantviruses #evolution #genomics #virology #science #biology #herpes

Ars Technica: Link between herpesviruses and giant viruses no longer missing https://arstechnica.com/?p=1934235 #Tech #arstechnica #IT #Technology #giantviruses #evolution #Genomics #virology #Science #Biology #herpes

Important study describing a new phylum of herpesvirus relatives that is abundant in the ocean -

Mirusviruses link herpesviruses to giant viruses

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-05962-4

I was honored to be asked to review this paper! Wonderful work.

#virology #viruses #herpesviruses #giantViruses

Near-atomic architecture of Singapore grouper iridovirus and implications for giant virus assembly

"The viral inner membrane-integrated anchor protein colocalizes with the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), supporting the hypothesis that the biogenesis of the inner membrane is associated with the ER"

Nice confirmation about where the viral inner membrane comes from.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-37681-9

#viruses #giantViruses #virology

Widespread Distribution and Evolution of Poxviral Entry-Fusion Complex Proteins in Giant Viruses

https://journals.asm.org/doi/epub/10.1128/spectrum.04944-22

#GiantViruses #Viruses #poxviruses

RT @RoliRoberts
Matthias Horn #EESSymbiosis - looking at how bacterial #symbiont Parachlamydia protects Acanthamoeba against both #Legionella and lytic #GiantViruses.

Giant Virus Infection Signatures Are Modulated by Euphotic Zone Depth Strata and Iron Regimes of the Subantarctic Southern Ocean

https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/msystems.01260-22

#viruses #giantviruses #marine

If anyone is interested in #GiantViruses, large #Phages, or the ecological and evolutionary complexity of #viruses in general, you may wish to check out a review I wrote with @giant_virus

https://www.mdpi.com/2218-273X/12/8/1061

This was a lot of fun to write! And part of a special issue commemorating Ivanovsky's discovery!

Important recent study on #GiantViruses.

I was always curious why genomes of giant viruses encode so many capsid proteins- turns out they are used in many complex modifications on the capsid surface. What amazing complexity of virion structure!

"Near-atomic, non-icosahedrally averaged structure of giant virus Paramecium bursaria chlorella virus 1"

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-34218-4

#viruses #virology

Happy to share our latest work on marine giant viruses!

Diversity and genomics of giant viruses in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2022.1021923/full

#Marine #GiantViruses #Viruses #Virology

#introduction
Hello everyone!
I’m an assistant prof at Virginia Tech studying viral and microbial diversity. Lately my group has been focusing on giant viruses, but we are also interested in other protist viruses, and the role of viral endogenization in host genome evolution.
#GiantViruses #ViralDiversity #TreeOfLife #Protists #Microbiology #Bioinformatics #Evolution #Virology #Genomics
Most recently we found endogenous giant viruses in the green alga C. reinhardtii!
https://academic.oup.com/ve/article/8/2/veac102/6767315?searchresult=1

RT @willemsen_anouk@twitter.com

Now on @evoldir@twitter.com
#jobAlert! I am searching for an enthusiastic PhD student to work on the #ecology and #evolution of #giantViruses @DOME_Vienna@twitter.com under the ☂️ of the #ERC_StG_CHIMERA. Starting date is possible from January 2023. #Bioinformatics and/or #wetLab work possible. 👇 https://twitter.com/evoldir/status/1595705309313454081

🐦🔗: https://twitter.com/willemsen_anouk/status/1595876074105327616

RT @willemsen_anouk
#jobAlert! I am searching for an enthusiastic PhD student to work on the #ecology and #evolution of #giantViruses @DOME_Vienna under the ☂️ of the #ERC_StG_CHIMERA. Starting date is possible from January 2023. #Bioinformatics and/or #wetLab work possible.