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Virologs, viral mimicry, and virocell metabolism: The expanding scale of cellular functions encoded in the complex genomes of giant viruses.

Mohammad MoniruzzamanPaula Maria Erazo-GarciaRoxanna FarzadAnh D HaAbdeali JivajiSangita KarkiUri SheynJoshua StantonBenjamin MinchDanae StephensDustin C HancksRodrigo Al RodriguesJonatas S AbrahaoAssaf VardiFrank O'Neill Aylward
Published in: FEMS microbiology letters (2023)
The phylum Nucleocytoviricota includes the largest and most complex viruses known. These "giant viruses" have a long evolutionary history that dates back to the early diversification of eukaryotes, and over time they have evolved elaborate strategies for manipulating the physiology of their hosts during infection. One of the most captivating of these mechanisms involves the use of genes acquired from the host - referred to here as viral homologs or "virologs" - as a means of promoting viral propagation. The best-known examples of these are involved in mimicry, in which viral machinery "imitates" immunomodulatory elements in the vertebrate defense system. But recent findings have highlighted a vast and rapidly expanding array of other virologs that include many genes not typically found in viruses, such as those involved in translation, central carbon metabolism, cytoskeletal structure, nutrient transport, vesicular trafficking, and light harvesting. Unraveling the roles of virologs during infection as well as the evolutionary pathways through which complex functional repertoires are acquired by viruses are important frontiers at the forefront of giant virus research.
Keyphrases
  • sars cov
  • genome wide
  • genetic diversity
  • rare case
  • high resolution
  • high throughput
  • gene expression
  • transcription factor
  • quantum dots
  • genome wide analysis
  • high density