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. 2022 Apr 13;96(7):e0211421.
doi: 10.1128/jvi.02114-21. Epub 2022 Mar 9.

Isolation and Identification of a Large Green Alga Virus (Chlorella Virus XW01) of Mimiviridae and Its Virophage (Chlorella Virus Virophage SW01) by Using Unicellular Green Algal Cultures

Affiliations

Isolation and Identification of a Large Green Alga Virus (Chlorella Virus XW01) of Mimiviridae and Its Virophage (Chlorella Virus Virophage SW01) by Using Unicellular Green Algal Cultures

Yijian Sheng et al. J Virol. .

Abstract

Virophages are a group of small double-stranded DNA viruses that infect protist hosts and parasitize the viral factory of host giant/large viruses to propagate. Here, we discover a novel cell-virus-virophage (CVv) tripartite interaction system by using unicellular micro-green algae (Chlorella sp.) as eukaryotic hosts for the first time. Viral particles, resembling known virophages and large alga viruses, are detected in culture supernatants and inside algal cells. Complete genomic sequences of the virophage (Chlorella virus virophage SW01 [CVv-SW01]; 24,744 bp) and large virus (Chlorella virus XW01 [CV-XW01]; 407,612 bp) are obtained from the cocultures. Both genomic and phylogenetic analyses show that CVv-SW01 is closely related to virophages previously found in Dishui Lake. CV-XW01 shares the greatest number of homologous genes (n = 82) with Cafeteria roenbergensis virus (CroV) and phylogenetically represents the closest relative to CroV. This is the first report of a large green alga virus being affiliated with a heterotrophic zooplankton-infecting Cafeteriavirus of the family Mimiviridae. Moreover, the codon usage preferences of CV-XW01 and CVv-SW01 are highly similar to those of CroV and its virophage Mavirus, respectively. The discovery of such a novel CVv system with the green alga Chlorella sp. as the single cellular eukaryotic host paves a way to further investigate the potential interaction mechanism of CVv and its significance in the ecology of green algae and the evolution of large/giant viruses and their parasitic viruses. IMPORTANCE Parasitic virophages are small unicellular eukaryotic dsDNA viruses that rely on the viral factories of coinfecting giant/large dsDNA viruses for propagation. Presently, the identified eukaryotic hosts of isolated virophages were restricted to a free-living amoeba, Acanthamoeba polyphaga, and a widespread marine heterotrophic flagellate, Cafeteria roenbergensis. In this study, we successfully discovered and identified a novel tripartite interaction system comprised of a micro-green alga (Chlorella sp.), Mimiviridae large green alga virus, and virophage at the coculture level, with Chlorella sp. as the eukaryotic host, based on combination analysis of infection, morphotype, genome, and phylogeny. The large green alga virus CV-XW01 represents the closest relative to the Mimiviridae giant virus Cafeteria roenbergensis virus, host virus of the virophage Mavirus, as well as a novel large virus of Mimiviridae that infects a non-protozoan protist host. The virophage CVv-SW01 highly resembles Mavirus in its codon usage frequency and preference, although they are phylogenetically distantly related. These findings give novel insights into the diversity of large/giant viruses and their virophages.

Keywords: Chlorella; Mimiviridae; co-culture; large green algal virus; virophage.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

FIG 1
FIG 1
Co-infection of host viruses and virophages on Chlorella sp. DSL01. (A) Infection and control groups after 48 h of co-cultivation. Partially enlarged view of (B) infected and (C) noninfected algal cells. (D) Lysed algal cells, indicated with arrows, in the infection group. (E) Normal algal cells in the control group. (F) Numerous and (G) no viral particles in the supernatants of the infection and noninfection groups, respectively, based on fluorescence microscopy observation.
FIG 2
FIG 2
Transmission electron microscope images of large green alga virus and virophage (A) in the supernatants of cocultures and (B) inside the algal cells. Large virus and virophage are indicated with red and yellow arrows, respectively.
FIG 3
FIG 3
(A) Physical map of the Chlorella virus XW01 genome. Outside numbers represent nucleotide position, and position 1 is indicated with the arrow. Open reading frames (ORFs) are shown using arrows and different colors which represent different taxonomic categories of BLASTp top hits. Inner zigzag gray line denotes G+C content of the genome. ORFans: unknown ORFs; LGVs: large/giant viruses. (B) The taxonomic hierarchy of top viral hits of CV-XW01 ORFs. Circles, from inside to outside, show the decreasing order of taxonomic hierarchy from highest to lowest rank. Numbers in the parentheses indicate the number of ORFs that were matched to viruses, bacteria, eukaryotes, or unknown.
FIG 4
FIG 4
Whole-genome alignment of Chlorella virus XW01 and Cafeteria roenbergensis virus (CroV). (A) Mauve. Locally conserved, colinear blocks between genomes are shown in the same color, and heights of the similarity profiles beside the blocks are consistent with the average levels of conservation in that region. (B) ViPTree. Genome-wide similarity is shown using the dot-plot and annotated genes. Different colors represent different sequence similarity scores.
FIG 5
FIG 5
(A) Maximum-likelihood phylogenetic tree of Chlorella virus virophage SW01 (CVv-SW01), constructed based on four core genes: major capsid protein (MCP), minor capsid protein (mCP), DNA packaging ATPase, and cysteine protease (CP). Bootstrap values on each node are >0.5. (B) Phylogenetic tree of Chlorella virus XW01 (CV-XW01), constructed based on four conserved genes of DNA polymerase B family (PolB), A18 helicase, ATPase (DNA packaging), and serine/threonine protein kinase (STPK). Bootstrap values on each node are >70%. Green branches and fonts represent large micro-green alga viruses and virophages; blue branches and fonts, giant protozoan viruses and virophages; golden, black, and gray represent other large alga viruses and virophages. CVv tripartite infection relationships are linked with the same colored lines, with a solid line for the co-infection and a dotted line for the co-occurrence. C, host cells; V, host giant/large viruses; v, virophages; YSLV, Yellowstone Lake virophage; DSLV: Dishui Lake virophage; OLV, Organic Lake virophage; RNV, Rio Negro virophage; CpV, Chrysochromulina parva virophage or virus; PgVV, Phaeocystis globosa virus virophage; OtV, Ostreococcus tauri virus; MpV, Micromonas pusilla virus; DSLPV, Dishui Lake phycodnavirus; YSLPV, Yellowstone lake phycodnavirus; ATCV, Acanthocystis turfacea chlorella virus; PBCV, Paramecium bursaria chlorella virus; HaV, Heterosigma akashiwo virus; CroV, Cafeteria roenbergensis virus; APMV, Acanthamoeba polyphaga mimivirus; Mamavirus, Acanthamoeba castellanii mamavirus; PgV, Phaeocystis globosa virus; OLPV, Organic Lake phycodnavirus; CeV, Chrysochromulina ericina virus; AaV, Aureococcus anophagefferens virus; TetV, Tetraselmis virus; DSLLAV, Dishui Lake large alga virus; SGIV, Singapore grouper iridovirus (out group). Scale bar, 0.2 amino acid substitution per site.
FIG 6
FIG 6
Proteomic tree of Chlorella virus XW01 (CV-XW01). Giant protozoan viruses are colored blue, and CV-XW01, infecting micro-green algae, is colored green. Branch lengths are indicated using a logarithmic scale. Full names of viruses and coloring are consistent with those provided in the Fig. 5 legend.
FIG 7
FIG 7
Physical map of the Chlorella virus virophage SW01 genome. ORFs in different colors represent different functional categories. Inner zigzag blue line denotes G+C content.
FIG 8
FIG 8
Proteomic tree of the Chlorella virus virophage SW01 (CVv-SW01). Giant protozoan virus virophages are colored blue, and the clade comprised of CVv-SW01, DSLV5/8, Mendota 1002791, and YSLV3 is shaded in light yellow. Branch lengths are indicated using a logarithmic scale. Full names of viruses and coloring are consistent with those provided in the Fig. 5 legend. “Mendota” on the left of the tree stands for Mendota_157001142.
FIG 9
FIG 9
Nucleotide identity shared among genomic sequences of Chlorella virus virophage SW01 (CVv-SW01), Dishui Lake virophage 5 (DSLV5), Mendota_1002891, Yellowstone Lake virophage 3 (YSLV3), and Mavirus, as determined using BRIG analysis. Five colors indicate these five virophages. The same color with a different intensity represents different sequence identity.
FIG 10
FIG 10
Genome-wide codon usage frequencies and preferences of (A) Chlorella virus XW01 and (B) Chlorella virus virophage SW01. Columns show codon usage frequency of each given genome, and rows represent different viruses. Full names of viruses and coloring are consistent with those provided in the Fig. 5 legend.

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